Breaking through a fierce battlefield where an army numbering in the tens of thousands was locked in combat was nearly impossible.
But…
“Rage, Blizzard!”
“Johnson, aren’t you pushing yourself too hard? If you keep this up, I can’t just stand by either.”
If the war hero of the Great Cataclysm and the world’s greatest War Mage and archer unleashed devastating area-of-effect magic and arrows like bolts of lightning…
“For Her Majesty the Queen!”
“Long live the Queen!”
If an S-rank Hunter who had appeared like a comet—the prince of the United Kingdom—led the kingdom’s elite royal knights into a charge…
“Formation J! Wipe them all out!”
“Just fucking fight!”
“Yeeeeeeah! Let’s gooo!!!”
And if the hundreds of suicide squad members who had come this far prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice advanced as one…
Roooooar!
Crack-crack! Slash!
A path opened.
A path meant for only three people.
It was the final path to ending this war, and they crossed through tens of thousands of monsters like a streak of light.
Shraaaaaaash!
A dazzling storm of light erupted from two swords and a single spear, sweeping through the monsters.
The head of a Lycanthrope baring its sharp fangs shot into the air, while the limbs of a six-meter-tall1 boss monster, a Twin-Headed Ogre, were torn from its body.
Five Death Knights, each commanding a legion, appeared to block their way, but it made no difference.
—In. The. Name. Of. Our. Lord.
—Let. Death. Descend.
Jin Taekyung tossed out a casual remark.
“Two, two, one. Sound good?”
Lee Jungryong nodded.
“Let’s do that.”
“Wait. What the—!”
Before Wu Heixing could finish objecting, the other two had already dashed forward.
They closed the distance in only two steps, then swung their sword and spear without hesitation.
Boom!
The first exchange. The Death Knight staggered after blocking the whip-like arc of Force.
Its eyes widened as its magic-infused sword shattered into pieces.
—How…!
Boom! Crunch!
The second exchange. The third. And then—
Slash!
A single lightning-fast strike that signaled the end.
The upper half of the Death Knight’s body, armor and all, slowly slid away. Beneath its low-pulled helmet, the light in its eyes flickered like a candle in the wind, then vanished.
Before the bodies of the Death Knights they had each taken responsibility for even touched the ground, Jin Taekyung and Lee Jungryong were already charging toward another enemy.
“Damn it! I’m here too!”
Wu Heixing joined them a moment later.
The fate of the three remaining Death Knights was as good as sealed.
The monsters that witnessed their commanders’ destruction instinctively recoiled in fear.
More. More. More.
Slash! Shraaaaaash!
Jin Taekyung cut and smashed his way through everything around him as he advanced. Then, at some point, he realized it.
They’re gone.
The monsters that had endlessly blocked their path were nowhere to be seen. Only a ruined road and vast plains stretching out on either side remained.
At the end of the road, a city shrouded in thick fog awaited them.
Lee Jungryong, Wu Heixing, and I raced toward the city where the Arch Lich was.
—Wicked human. This commander has a long-held wish.
What is it?
—To return to my homeland and enjoy a peaceful life.
You don’t even remember where your homeland is.
—…How could you say something so cruel?
Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. So where is your homeland?
—The first place where I regained consciousness. Korea. I have decided to make it the homeland of my heart.
“…”
I faltered as I ran toward the city.
Is he insane?
A monster trying to obtain citizenship. An undead illegal immigrant who had slipped into the country through a Gate, yet he had no shortage of things to say. His reasons for going this far were obvious, of course.
—So please, let’s turn back.
I don’t want to.
—My head has felt dizzy and my stomach has been churning for a while now.
That’s strange. The more I talk to you, the more I think I’m developing similar symptoms.
—It isn’t too late yet! Please stop! If we go in there, there really will be no turning back!
No.
It’s already too late.
I muttered the words inwardly and took another step.
As we entered the city, the first things to greet us were the ominously thick fog and frigid air.
At the same time, a familiar energy I had felt countless times before—yet somehow different—brushed across my entire body.
“This is…”
Sticky and unpleasant. It did not take me long to realize what the energy was, and Lee Jungryong and Wu Heixing reached the same conclusion.
“Mr. Lee…”
“Yes. I see.”
Lee Jungryong swept his surroundings with a somber gaze, then spoke.
“It’s a Gate. I wondered where so many monsters were pouring out from. Now we know why.”
Lee Jungryong’s guess was wrong.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say he was half right.
I gave a small shake of my head and corrected him.
“I don’t think the Gate transformation is complete yet.”
Wu Heixing swallowed hard.
“How do you know that?”
“Just a feeling.”
“What?”
“If you don’t believe me, never mind.”
“…What kind of person says something like that?”
As expected, Wu Heixing looked dumbfounded. Lee Jungryong, however, reacted differently.
His gaze held a clear mixture of suspicion and surprise.
“How did you know?”
“You already knew?”
“I only just realized it. I felt this same sensation a very long time ago, in North America during the Great Cataclysm.”
“I see.”
“But this phenomenon hasn’t occurred even once since the Great Cataclysm. How did you know?”
“As I said, it’s just a feeling. I had a hunch.”
“A hunch…”
Lee Jungryong studied me with an unreadable expression after my firm answer.
But that was all I could say. Even if I told him the truth, he would not be able to understand it anyway.
It’s not as if I can show him the System window.
I raised my head and glanced at the empty air. A System message had appeared before my eyes the instant we entered the city.
Ding.
System
You have entered a ???-Grade Gate, City Consumed by Darkness!
You have infiltrated the stronghold of the Arch Lich!
The city, consumed by mana, is already transforming into one enormous Gate. Defeat the Arch Lich, the source of everything, to stop the city’s transformation and prevent the catastrophe that will follow.
Quest One Who Returned from Death has been created!
You cannot use the Login function until the Quest ends!
Gate transformation.
It was a phenomenon from the past that I had only ever read about in textbooks.
Lee Jungryong gazed beyond the thick fog and spoke.
“Gate transformations were rare even during the Great Cataclysm. For one to occur, an extremely powerful monster must serve as its core and put down roots with its mana.”
There was no need to wonder which extremely powerful monster that might be.
I blurted out its name.
“The Arch Lich.”
“Yes. It has to be the Arch Lich. It must be contaminating the city with mana and turning it into one enormous Gate. That must also be why it has not appeared on the battlefield until now.”
Nearly two hundred thousand monsters had appeared on the battlefield so far.
That alone was a catastrophe of staggering proportions. But if the Gate transformation were completed…
We’re finished.
Humanity would undoubtedly emerge victorious in the end, but countless cities would be destroyed, and hundreds of thousands—no, perhaps millions—of people would die.
We had to stop it before it was too late.
“We don’t have much time. We need to hurry.”
Lee Jungryong nodded.
“We should avoid the monsters whenever possible. We’ll need to conserve every bit of strength we can before facing the Arch Lich. Mr. Wu, that includes you.”
“…Yes.”
We began moving through the thick fog.
Unlike the small city where I had fought Lei Fei last time, this place—the Arch Lich’s stronghold—covered more than ten times the area and still bore traces of having once been a bustling city.
A forest of collapsed skyscrapers. A downtown district that must once have been the most dazzling part of the city, now reduced to desolation…
We moved as quickly and quietly as possible.
After traveling for some time with our senses stretched to their limits, Lee Jungryong, who had been leading the group, suddenly spoke.
“Did you know?”
“If you put it like that, of course I don’t. And this doesn’t seem like a particularly good time to play Twenty Questions.”
Lee Jungryong let out a low laugh at my immediate reply.
“These days, I find myself thinking about you more than usual.”
“Are you confessing your feelings to me? This is a bad time for that too.”
“In a sense, perhaps I am. How should I put it? I find myself thinking that you will surpass me someday.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Even in ten years, I won’t come close to catching up with you, Vice Guild Master.”
“Haha. Do you really think so?”
“No. I just said it because I thought you’d like to hear it.”
“You’re as honest as ever. Just like when I first met you.”
“That first blind date did have a pretty terrible atmosphere.”
My memory was not particularly good, but I could still vividly remember my first meeting with him.
Lee Jungryong seemed to remember it just as clearly.
“We got off to an ill-fated start. The more I think about it, the more regrettable it seems.”
“Tell me about it. If we had talked things out from the start instead of cutting off someone’s arm, we might have begun on relatively friendly terms.”
“Park Jihoon made a mistake in the heat of the moment. I apologize.”
“How could that have been the Disciple’s fault alone?”
“Heh. I see. Then it was also my fault for failing to teach him properly.”
I watched Lee Jungryong’s back as he moved ahead of us. He leaped between buildings with swift, elusive movements, and I wondered what expression he was wearing now.
Lee Jungryong let out another quiet laugh and continued.
“You seem to have grown quite close to Minwoo.”
“We’re reasonably friendly.”
“You two seem to get along surprisingly well.”
“He pays me a lot.”
“A business relationship. That’s good to hear. Then do you think I could become close to you as well?”
I answered with a snort of laughter.
“Was it about seven years ago? I had a red-bean bun as a snack at the Hunter Training Center, and it tasted so good I cried. But when I tried one after getting out into the real world, it wasn’t that great. I haven’t really eaten them since.”
“So now you’ve had your fill?”
“I’ve already earned enough for several generations to live without working. My stomach is full, so what’s the point of forcing down more? I’ll just burst and die.”
“You’re wrong. Humans are always hungry creatures. No matter how much they stuff themselves, they never know satisfaction. Do you know why?”
“Hmm. Do you happen to have a binge-eating disorder?”
Lee Jungryong continued in a gentle voice.
“Greed. More money, more honor, or the opposite sex. We constantly desire and crave more.”
“Like you, Vice Guild Master?”
“That’s right. Like me.”
Lee Jungryong laughed aloud. His booming laughter spread through the thick fog, but he did not seem concerned in the slightest.
“They say laughter brings good fortune, but in this case, don’t you think it might bring monsters instead?”
“There aren’t any monsters in this area. You know that too, don’t you?”
“Well, I’m just saying we should be a little more careful.”
Whoooooosh!
A foul-smelling wind brushed across my entire body.
From one building to the next, we continued running, leaping across gaps more than twenty meters2 wide.
We sensed no sign of monsters, and the buildings around us gradually grew fewer.
“Let’s slow down from here.”
“It’s dark. And narrow.”
“Bear with it a little longer. More importantly, may I ask you one more thing?”
“Anything.”
“What did Minwoo say about this operation?”
“He didn’t say much…”
I looked between Lee Jungryong and Wu Heixing before continuing slowly.
“He told me not to go because it was dangerous.”
“More precisely?”
“Don’t go with people you can’t trust. Something like that.”
The smile on Lee Jungryong’s lips deepened.
“Do you suspect me and that fellow too?”
No.
“Then?”
“If anything…”
I smiled as I continued.
“If anything, I’m certain.”
“Certain?”
“Yes.”
Still smiling, I went on.
“I’m certain these fucking bastards are more interested in the back of my head than the Arch Lich.”
Lee Jungryong stopped dead.
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