Chapter 4: Outside, and the Fighters

A venomous stinger flies toward me.
If someone with low resistance gets hit, they’re dead on the spot.
Even with high resistance, it’s paralysis.
Either way, getting hit here means game over.

It’s aiming for… my chest?

I pivot on my left foot, spinning half a turn.
With the axe in my right hand, I use the centrifugal force—

“—Kweeeek!”
“Shut up.”

—and bury it in the thing’s skull.
That’s triple digits.
Reset again.
Zero.
I kick the creature, axe still lodged in its head, sending it flying into the others.

As I step back, I spot an Erosion Entity aiming for my junior’s head.
I coat an axe with mana and slam it into the thing’s skull.
Count one.

Oh, I’m out of axes.

“Senior Haaaana! Fck, we can’t handle this! Let’s pull out!”
“Shut up, you brat! Did you get all the interns out?”
“Yeah! Everyone’s back! It’s just us from Section 2 now!”

They pulled everyone out.

I glance at the kid, and he looks like he’s about to cry.
Han Sua, an intern at Wolgeum Agency, hired full-time after two years and promoted to Section 2.
That baby face and frantic behavior don’t suit a battlefield like this.
But his skills are legit.

Holding a blood-dripping spear, covered in gore, yet acting as casual as ever.
In a way, he might be the one who fits this place best.

The craziest one here.

Tch.
The world’s gone to sht.

A whoosh comes from above and behind.
The distinct sound of a flying Erosion Entity’s dive attack.
I see Sua up front, startled, thrusting his spear.

Huh?
What’s he saying?

“No, Senior, behind you—”
“I know, idiot. Borrowing this.”

I grab the spear he’s thrusting toward me and swing it backward.

The spear, glowing with blue energy, obliterates the head of the disgusting Erosion Entity flying straight at me.
The corpse doesn’t just hit the ground—it’s absorbed into the purple, eroded earth.
Damn, what a waste of a heart.
This is why fighting in an Erosion Zone sucks.
Outside, I’d have harvested it by now.

Count two.

Flying Erosion Entities don’t attack alone.
This one’s just the lead.

I look up.
How many are there?

The sound from earlier has turned into a sky-ripping screech.
They’re pouring down like bullets, like rain.
Each one’s a threat.
A single graze could tear me apart.

They think they’re a school of sardines or something.

“Sss…”

One breath.
I gather mana.
The image is rotation.
Mana flows into the spear.

The spear in my hand spins wildly.
A mana array like a donut-shaped thread.
I find the trigger thread and connect it to my hand.
I visualize, imagine, and finally grasp it.

Two breaths.

I exhale the gathered breath and throw the spear.

—Paaang!!

A crisp sound.
Before it even connects, the spear smashes through the lead Erosion Entity’s head.
The compressed mana crushes the ones nearby, and those behind them too.
It doesn’t even slow the spear down.

Time it right.

I pull the single mana thread I connected.

This is my specialty.
What happens to unstable mana?
The answer’s in the scene before me.
The mana turns into a storm, unleashed.
The shattered spear becomes mana-coated fragments, flying with the storm toward the surrounding Erosion Entities.

At the same time, I pull the threads connected to all the axes I threw earlier.

The resulting dozens of explosions aren’t exactly pleasant to hear.
But mixed with the Erosion Entities’ screams, it’s not half bad.
Count?
No idea.
Reset again.
Zero.
Pretty effective.
That’s reset number four.

“Ugh…”
“What are you doing, kid? Get Section 2 out now.”

What’s with him?
And fck, what’s our intel team doing?
These bastards—we can’t handle this with just Section 2.

This is Association-level work, and they sent a single agency’s Section 2?
Crazy bastards.
Lucky it was me here.

The Gate’s already open.
You can tell just by how the Erosion Entities keep multiplying.
Coordinated movements.
Their firepower’s focused on me since I’ve killed the most.
There’s definitely a Gatekeeper.
No doubt about it.

I could probably hold out alone.
If I’m lucky, I might even reach the Gate.
But with these guys?
No way.

If the Gate’s open, we need at least Section 1.
If there’s a Gatekeeper, I might manage, but not with these small fries.
I’d need an escort team at least.

By the way, what’s the kid doing just standing there?
I glare at him as he stares back.

“What’s up?”
“Uh… my… my…”
“?”

My?
What?
Now he’s whimpering.
Is he touched or something?

“…My spear!”
“Oh.”

Right.
The spear’s gone.
It’s been more like spear shrapnel for a while now.
Sorry.

I’ve cleared the area, but the bastards are still going strong.
They’re not stopping us from retreating, though.
Their target isn’t us.
That confirms it—there’s a Gatekeeper.
Probability’s up to 140%.
Practically Putin-level certainty.

A Gate, a Gatekeeper.
If it blooms into a Flower, we’ll all end up like that spear.
Shattered and scattered.

Fck, we can’t drag this out.
But I can’t do it alone.

The kid’s still clinging to my collar, shaking me.
I lift him and talk.
I’ll buy you a new one later, okay?

“Where’s the intel team?”
“Ugh…”
“Why’re you whining?”

He points toward the direction of the spear fragments, and I pull him back, shutting him up.
My axes are trashed too, you know.

The intel team’s probably seen this mess already.
This is out of our hands.

Worst case, a Flower blooms, pollen spreads, and the surrounding area gets eroded.
It’s only a matter of time.
We need backup ASAP.

Most of the top dogs are off dealing with the [Underground Path] in Jeju.
That’s the case I mentioned—Flower bloomed, eroded the island and its seas.
Biggest scale in the country right now.
The whole Association’s tied up there.

That means most agency Section 1s are gone.
Bipa Agency, Gayageum Agency, our Wolgeum Agency—all their Section 1s are in Jeju.
Even if some agencies have Section 1s left, they’re probably just for show, on overseas assignments, or busy elsewhere.

My personal guess?
This could become a second [Underground Path].
Or maybe like the [Sky Gate] from thirty years ago…?

Something like this happening in just a few days?
Impossible.
Not a normal growth rate.
The observation can’t be wrong either—it’s accurate.

That’s why we sent Section 2, the next best thing, to train the new interns.

Unless someone’s artificially messing with this, a research facility of this scale…

Research facility…?

Oh.
No way.

“Han Sua.”
“Yes! All interns are safe. Out of 19, one’s seriously injured, the rest have minor injuries.
Section 2, five out of six are fine or lightly injured, except for you, Manager.
Reported to intel already.”
“No, not that. Well, that’s good, but.”

I’m probably right.
This is too sketchy.
A facility this big in the middle of Gangwon’s mountains?
These bastards were definitely up to some sht here.
Didn’t they learn from the [Sky Gate] mess?

“Tell the intel team to investigate this lab.
What the hell were they doing here?
Probably screwing around with Erosion Entities.
And we’re all pulling out.
We wait outside the Erosion Zone.
If a Flower blooms, evacuate everything within a 30km radius.”
“Investigate… retreat… evacuate. Got it!”

Ugh.
This is fcked.
No way to handle it.

We retreat and look at the land ahead.

The green forests and mountains have melted into a sludgy mess, like purple lava pulsing over it.
This is the Erosion Zone.
The Erosion Entities here spawn near infinitely, and physical attacks barely work.
Only Hunters like us, who wield mana, can deal with them.

Outside the zone, they’re just bullet sponges, their hearts harvested for power plants.

Jeju’s Gate was contained by the island’s isolation, but this is Gangwon.
If it evolves to a Flower like the [Sky Gate] in Gangneung, all of Gangwon could be eroded, even pushing into the capital.

There’s no answer.
We need to team up with other agencies.
The government Association?
Their main Section 1s are probably in Jeju too.
Partner with other agencies?
Those lunatics?
No thanks.

All I can do is sigh.
The future looks grim.
If a Flower blooms here and pollen spreads, we’re all f—

Rumble rumble…

“—Huh?”

The ground—no, the lab—is shaking?
A Flower blooming?
No, that’s not it.
If it was, this wouldn’t be the vibration.
Blooming takes massive energy.
It couldn’t sustain this many Erosion Entities.
If it was blooming, half the Entities would’ve been absorbed into the earth!

This isn’t the vibe of a bloom either.
It’s something more ominous…

“…!!!!”

I can’t believe my eyes.

A red pillar shoots up from the lab, piercing everything, as if to stain the world crimson.

Me, all of Section 2, even the Erosion Entities—we’re all staring at this unknown phenomenon.
I can’t understand it.
I can’t accept it.
What the hell…

“What is that…?”

—Kwaaaaaaaa!!

Sadly, no one’s around to answer that question.