Chapter 81
“Th-this is!?”
Aris was greatly shocked by the enormous gate before her.
“A gate. It's similar to a tower.”
“I see. So it's something like a ruin.”
“Come to think of it, I heard Earth had things like this. But this is my first time seeing one in person…”
“Let's go in. You know how to fight, right?”
“I told you, I helped conquer the tower too.”
“Hunter Sera and four others, confirmed. Good luck.”
Listening to the association employee say that, we entered the gate.
—Kweeeee!!!
—Keee-e-e-eek!!!
Inside, an environment resembling a savanna plain stretched out before us.
All kinds of monkeys and monstrous birds were roaming around in groups.
There were even ape monsters the size of buildings.
“There are demonic beasts everywhere again!”
Aris exclaimed in wonder.
“Hey, just because you said you'd do it, can you actually handle this!?”
Sera said, looking back at me.
“It's fine. The two of us can cut our way through all of them, can't we?”
Of course, that was only for an ordinary A-rank emergency gate.
“Phew….”
Still, I didn't bring a sword today.
I'm going to do this properly.
Like a mage.
It was a landscape straight out of the end of the world.
As if on cue, hundreds of monsters all turned to look at us.
Then they charged, their eyes glowing a vivid red.
The monstrous birds took flight, while the monster apes excitedly climbed the trees.
Behind them, one enormous gorilla approached, shaking the earth with every step.
Actually, I'm not even sure I should call that a gorilla.
Its head was grotesquely twisted into the shape of a hammer, and roots had sprouted from its limbs.
A massive monster wave.
Judging by the presence of a monster that looked so blatantly like a boss, this seemed to be a gate with a short-and-sweet concept.
—Kyaa-aaak!
“So we just take care of everything first, right?”
Linia asked calmly as she looked at me.
She wasn't intimidated in the slightest, even with monsters right in front of her.
Maybe that was because she was from another world and lived surrounded by demonic beasts every day.
That's kind of amazing.
Robert didn't seem that scared either.
“Index, Bullet, Hecto, Guide.”
Linia chanted the spell in a gentle voice.
One hundred mana bullets rose high into the air from her wand and rained down all at once.
The monstrous birds were helpless against them.
Some died instantly, while others had their wings pierced and could no longer fly.
Sera turned to look at Linia.
She clearly hadn't expected anything like this.
Even if someone had S-rank or higher mana, converting it into actual firepower was an entirely different matter.
“…All that in one go!?”
“Enchant Casting, Haste.”
Robert chanted a spell as well.
“It's a support spell. It makes the body lighter and increases movement speed.”
“…That's interesting.”
That actually came in handy.
Robert said smugly,
“Since we have enough firepower, I might as well do something like this.”
“I don't really have anything I can do…”
Aris's magic didn't have particularly strong firepower.
But a healer was useful simply by being there.
Especially an A-rank or higher healer.
“The troublesome ones are all gone… Leave the rest to me.”
Sera said confidently.
Indeed, for a close-combat swordswoman, nothing was more troublesome than flying monsters.
I said as I took out my staff,
“Let's not pose; let's hurry up.”
“Got it.”
Sera shot forward like a bolt of lightning.
I covered Sera while picking off the surrounding monsters one by one.
—Kwoooo!!
Thanks to that, Sera was able to reach the boss monster without any interference.
“First Divine.”
When Sera murmured, a brilliant yellow light burst from her sword.
The sword grew several times longer than it had been originally.
—Shraaak!
It slashed through the chest of the building-sized beast.
Red blood spurted into the air.
“Ugh, some people spend all day struggling to draw aura, while that just takes a click.”
The ability really was absurdly overpowered.
Though it was also an ability that shortened the weapon's lifespan.
The beast let out a low, booming scream.
But it wasn't a fatal wound.
As expected of an A-rank gate.
“Hey! Don't just watch—help me!”
Sera said when she saw the monsters nearby rushing toward her.
Wasting a turn on those monsters was a disadvantage for Sera.
I knew that too.
“Casting Bullet, Penny, Deca.”
—Kieeeeeek!!
Ten penetrating mana bullets slammed into the charging apes.
The apes died screaming horribly.
“Man, you're noisy.”
I should finish that thing off and get out of here quickly.
There was a high chance the gate's core was inside the boss monster too.
Once I cleared away the riffraff, Sera was able to overwhelm the giant beast at her leisure.
‘Was she always this strong?’
I don't remember A-rank hunters being this powerful.
She was cutting down an A-rank boss monster all by herself.
Unless someone was as strong as an S-rank, they should have struggled, but Sera didn't look troubled at all.
‘But she's a little slow.’
Even if I left things as they were, she would finish it within a few minutes…
But I had a better method.
“Sera, that's enough!”
“Huh!?”
Sera instinctively turned around at my words and noticed the mana crackling down my arm.
Dragon mana flowed from my eyes, down my arm, and into my staff.
Startled, Sera hurriedly moved out of its trajectory.
“Wait…!”
As soon as I confirmed that Sera had left the line of fire, I chanted the spell.
“Casting, Bullet.”
A red mana bullet burst from the staff.
Its appearance was closer to a photon cannon than a bullet.
It was my maximum firepower.
I used up about half the mana in my eyes, but the result was clear.
It had blown away not only the monster's heart, but its entire shoulder area as well.
The monster that had endured being cut apart by Sera's ability toppled over in a single attack.
“Wh-what was that!?”
Sera stared at me in astonishment.
“Hey, that isn't even just A-rank level…”
“Shh.”
If she found out, Karnarov would make me work.
Ah, he's not here.
But there are plenty of people who could make me work.
“We brought them!”
Aris had apparently dealt with the remaining monsters alongside Linia and Robert and brought back their mana stones.
“Here.”
Linia handed me a sack of mana stones.
“What? They're so clean.”
There had been so many monsters that I was worried about whether we could separate out the mana stones cleanly.
But my concern had been completely unnecessary; the sack was filled with pristine mana stones.
“There's a spell that separates mana stones.”
“There's something like that?”
Sera asked, sounding intrigued.
“Yeah. Want me to teach you later?”
“How long would it take?”
“Hmm… for an ordinary person, about two years?”
“Urgh.”
Sera was briefly tempted, then gave up on the idea.
It's strange enough that I have this many spells in the first place.
I put the sack of mana stones into my Inventory.
* * *
In less than thirty minutes, we'd gobbled up one gate and come back out.
The haul was enormous.
There were also some other rewards, like hidden treasure chests and artifacts.
But I didn't particularly need them, so I had the White Tiger Guild retrieve them.
Artifacts from the other world were much higher quality.
“Are you really okay with handing all of it over to the White Tiger Guild?”
I handed all the materials aside from the mana stones over to the White Tiger Guild.
Of course, I also took the opportunity to get some spending money.
“I got the mana stones, so I'm good.”
“Mana stones are worth that much, I suppose.”
Sera nodded.
“Wow, that's sweet.”
The bulging sack went straight into my Inventory.
With a haul this good, I didn't even need to visit the tower this time.
I should make a quick trip there alone a little later.
Still, improving my specs was a serious matter.
I was just about to leave the area around the gate when.
“W-wait a moment!!”
“You're Hunter Sera, right!? Could we get an interview!?”
“Who are the people next to her!? What are those unusual clothes?”
“Idiot, they're new recruits of the White Tiger Guild!”
Ah, right.
Anyone A-rank or above—no, even B-rank and above—had to deal with this sort of thing.
I quickly stored Robert, Aris, and Linia in my Inventory and said to Sera,
“Hey, let's bail.”
Now wasn't the time.
Sera seemed to find it troublesome too, because she grabbed me by the nape of my neck.
And one second later, we were above Seoul.
* * *
“Sigh, I can't believe the hunter ran away when we were supposed to interview her…”
An A-rank emergency gate.
If Sera hadn't been there, clearing it might have taken a long time.
No, even Sera would have needed some time.
Even the riffraff monsters in an A-rank gate were troublesome.
“But they cleared it and came out in just thirty minutes!? A B-rank hunter team would have needed a whole day to do what they did!!”
“I heard a new White Tiger recruit took part too?”
“They say talent is springing up from the White Tiger Guild.”
“Maybe the White Tiger Guild Master knows something?”
“Did you get the interview?”
“No. The moment we tried to interview them, they zoomed off into thin air!”
But there was nothing the reporters could do.
They decided to deal with the matter right in front of them first.
In fact, this was the main event.
The Korean S-rank hunters who had returned after conquering the third floor of the Abyss.
There were only three hunters, and one of them was a woman.
Jeongyeon.
The god of martial artists, and the head of the White Tiger Guild.
Naturally, microphones were thrust toward her as camera shutters erupted around her.
“How did you recruit such talented people!?”
Jeongyeon answered with a smile.
“Talented people? Ah, you mean Hunter Sera.”
“Hunter Sera, along with…”
“The four mysterious hunters…”
Jeongyeon responded with a smile as she thought,
‘…What are they talking about?’
She was a martial artist to the bone and wasn't used to interviews like this.
So even at official events, she usually just read the script prepared by her secretary.
Fortunately, Hunter Sera seemed to have done a good job while Jeongyeon was abroad.
“Hunter Sera is truly an outstanding hunter. More than a simple superior-subordinate relationship, she's a comrade bound to me by a deep bond.”
She said whatever came to mind and drove the reporters away.
“Sigh, what a racket.”
Once she got into the car, Jeongyeon drank the water her secretary handed her.
Then she headed for the White Tiger Guild Master's office.
“The Abyss operation is finally winding down.”
The operation to conquer the third underground floor of the Abyss.
A gigantic hole that had appeared in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Hunters were throwing themselves into battle at this place, where ominous mana poured out in torrents.
It could truly be called humanity's front line alongside the gates.
The conquest of its third floor had been completed.
Now was the time to recover and expand their forces.
“Secretary Choi!!”
The moment she entered the Guild Master's office, she called for her secretary.
There was something she had to do as soon as she returned to Korea.
“Did you call?”
He came running to the Guild Master's office, drenched in sweat.
“There's someone I want to recruit.”
“Pardon? Who do you mean?”
Jeongyeon looked at Secretary Choi reproachfully.
“Sigh, you're behind on the news. I'm talking about Hunter Yumia. I hear both the number-one and number-two guilds are after her.”
In fact, she had overheard that from the S-rank hunters while returning the day before.
“Hunter Yumia…?”
“Yes. Not only did she pass the Marionette Test ten times while in a non-ability state, apparently she also worked as a first-generation hunter for a long time.”
I like her.
Even if they had abilities, there were many hunters who didn't use them to hunt monsters and protect humanity.
But Hunter Yumia had apparently beaten monsters even before she awakened.
“Is that so?”
“She's a talent our guild absolutely needs.”
“Can we recruit her? If the rumors are true, it could be quite a burden.”
“Of course we can. We're a little late, but we can still offer her sufficiently good terms.”
Jeongyeon grinned.
The White Tiger Guild was outmatched by the other guilds in size and financial power.
But at least when it came to treating people, she had always prided herself on never doing things halfway.
“I absolutely will recruit her!”