The wasteland stretched endlessly in every direction.
There was no sun, but a dark light made of magical power hung in the air. Hundreds of Orcs roamed in packs, hunted by the Hunters who came here.
Or rather, that was how it used to be.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The ground trembled. The magical power saturating the wasteland swelled as though it might burst at any moment, squeezing the breath from their lungs.
The Hunters panted raggedly, their breath carrying a sickly sweet smell.
More than a hundred Orcs lay sprawled around them. The Hunters stood back-to-back in a circle, but beyond the bodies, a monster army ten times that size was advancing.
“T-Team Leader.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll get out of here, whatever it takes.”
The Team Leader’s answer sounded hollow.
The one who had asked and the one who had answered both had some idea of the truth. None of them would leave this place alive today.
Even if they miraculously broke through the monster army’s encirclement, there was one opponent they would never be able to bring down.
—Kraaaargh!
The Orc Lord.
At the roar of the powerful mutant said to be born only once in a million, more than a thousand Orcs shrieked and struck their weapons together.
—Chweeek!
Clang! Crash-crash-crash!
Despair flickered in the Hunters’ eyes.
It’s over.
Under the Orc Lord’s command, the monster army had grown stronger. The Orcs were no longer a rabble roaming in groups of a few dozen, and the Hunters numbered fewer than twenty.
We can’t win this.
The thought flashed through every mind at once.
It would have been no different even if they could overwhelm Hunters of the same rank. Their pride in belonging to Ares Guild crumbled before the death bearing down on them.
“…Damn Mutated Gate.”
As someone muttered those words, the monsters filling the area began charging all at once.
At their head was the Orc Lord, the bastard they couldn’t kill hard enough.
—Karchwi! Kalipto!
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
Shouting something unintelligible in the Demon Realm language, its massive body hurtled toward them.
The raid Team Leader gritted his teeth, raised his shield, and charged to meet it. His team members called out from behind him, but he focused every ounce of strength and attention on the enemy ahead.
“Come on!”
It was a great shout, forced out to drive away his fear.
Red light flashed in the Orc Lord’s eyes. The enormous ax in its hands came down toward the crown of the Team Leader’s head.
Whooosh—crash!
One strike. That was all it took.
The blow was unbelievably fast and powerful. With a thunderous roar, it shattered the Tower Shield reinforced with high-grade enhancement magic. The Team Leader’s eyes widened, the pain of his broken arms forgotten.
Whoooosh.
The ax had not touched him, but already it felt as though his side had been cut open.
His life flashed before his eyes, and the world slowed. A second blow was coming to split his body in two at the waist.
No. Not the second blow. The last.
The Team Leader closed his eyes. He had no desire to spend the final moment of his life looking at that ugly, fucking monster.
And in the next moment, along with the pitch-black darkness blocking his vision, a sharp sound of something cutting through the air pierced his ears.
Fwoooooosh—crack!
The pain he had been waiting for never came. It felt so strange that he wondered if this could really be death.
“…?”
The Team Leader cracked his eyes open and gaped.
Less than five paces away, the Orc Lord’s three-meter-tall1 body stood motionless.
Its head was gone.
“…!”
“…!”
The world seemed to stop.
Humans and monsters alike stood frozen, staring. At that moment, only one thing moved across the endless wasteland.
Rrrrrr.
A single spear that had blown apart the Orc Lord’s head, pierced through the ground, and now trembled violently.
The Hunters knew who owned that spear, with its soft, almost mystical glow.
Jin Taekyung!
Along with the name that flashed through their minds like lightning, the spear lodged deep in the ground shot upward and flew into someone’s grasp.
Fwoooooosh—tap.
As though by agreement, they slowly turned their heads. Only then did they realize that the shadow of death looming over them had vanished without a trace.
“Little lambs wandering through the Mutated Gate. Run like fuck and get behind me.”
Tap. Tap.
The middle-aged man walked with a confident, unhurried stride.
That did not change when he entered the skyscraper overlooking the Blue House2 and the National Assembly.
“If you’re a Guild member, please show your access pass—”
“I haven’t seen you before. New here?”
“Pardon? Yes, I am.”
“Thought so. You must be new if you’re acting like this. Looks like your Team Leader didn’t tell you.”
The Security Team Hunter, who had been staring blankly at the middle-aged man, sucked in a startled breath.
“Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you—”
“It’s fine. I’m busy, so let me through.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
The checkpoint that everyone, Guild member or outsider, had to pass through could not stop the middle-aged man. He glanced at the young Hunter bowing hurriedly to him and continued toward his destination.
A voice was already coming through the tiny communicator implanted beneath his ear in a simple operation.
“He’s waiting for you.”
The middle-aged man barely moved his lips.
“Where?”
“Section A.”
The skyscraper rose 150 stories, but Section A appeared on neither its building plans nor its signs. Only a tiny fraction of its countless Guild members were allowed into that space.
The middle-aged man was one of them.
“Have the Teleport ready.”
“It’s ready. By the way, that new Security Team recruit, Deputy Team—ah, sorry. Team Leader.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
Even I’m not used to it yet, so what can you expect?
Before he could finish the thought, the voice continued.
“In any case, I’ll inform the Security Team Leader and have the recruit disciplined.”
Not a report. Not a suggestion. A notification.
At some point, that had become normal, but it still felt strange to him. He frowned faintly.
“Do we really need to go that far?”
“Team Leader?”
“…Never mind. Handle it as you see fit.”
“Yes. I’ll deal with it appropriately.”
“Appropriately” meant a pay cut at minimum. It might mean a demotion.
He thought of the young man who had stopped him and felt a twinge of discomfort, but there was nothing he could do. That was the policy of the Guild he belonged to.
No. It was their policy.
And ever since that incident, it’s been getting worse.
He had long known that the Guild was ruled with an iron fist, but its grip had tightened even further since the recent unfortunate incident.
Perhaps the new king was impatient because his subjects had yet to fully accept his right to the throne.
The middle-aged man let out a small sigh and spoke as he walked.
“Update me on the VIP.”
“He’s in a bad mood.”
“Am I imagining things, or did you say the same thing yesterday?”
“Well… he read this morning’s papers and—”
“That’s enough. Send me everything the VIP is reading. Scrape it all and send it to me. Right now.”
His magically secured smartphone vibrated as soon as he finished speaking. He tapped the screen lightly. The headlines of more than twenty morning newspapers that had left the presses only two or three hours earlier filled the display.
Unprecedented Crisis… What Do the Successive Mutated Gates Signify?
Ominous Signs: Will the Nightmare of China’s Sichuan Province Come to Korea?
Emergency Blue House2 Announcement: “We Have Signed an Agreement with the Peace Guild to Prevent Any Potential Crisis. Results So Far Are Encouraging.”
Third Mutated Gate, but Zero Fatalities? Worldwide Praise for the Peace Guild’s Emergency Rescue Team.
American Grand Mage Magic Johnson: “The Peace Guild Is a Beacon for a New Era. Jin and Choi Are Good, Upright Young Men.”
Former U.S. President Joseph Biden: “South Korea Is an Unquestionable Hunter Powerhouse, Home to Outstanding Young People Who Will Lead This Era. The Choi I Met Recently Is One of Them.”
Chinese Chairman Xiao Yang: “Mr. Choi Is Another Unsung Hero. We Remember How He Risked His Life Fighting in Sichuan.”
Japanese Prime Minister Shinjiro Koizumi Also Mentions Choi on Social Media: “As Far as I Know, Choi Is Korean. Therefore, He Is Not Japanese.” Korean Netizens React: “Thank God He Isn’t One of Our Idiots.”
Remarks by World Leaders Spark Unprecedented Interest: “Who on Earth Is This Choi?” Sources Identify Him as Peace Guild Team Leader Choi Minwoo…
S-Rank Hunter Jin Taekyung to Attend New Year’s “Communicating with the People” Press Conference with the President This Morning!
…
…
…
“…Whew.”
After reading them all, the middle-aged man rubbed his dry eyes. The fatigue he had forgotten came rushing back.
“Damn it.”
“Have you finished reading?”
“Yes. I’d have been better off not reading them.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but you should hurry.”
“I was about to. I’m almost there.”
Tap.
He stepped onto a faintly glowing magic circle. After he authenticated his fingerprint and infused the circle with mana, it recognized him and released a brilliant flash.
Flash!
A sensation like his entire body floating into the air seized him amid a dazzling halo of light.
The next moment, he opened his eyes and knew the Teleport to Section A had succeeded.
White marble and Magic Gems adorned the room. Around a dozen men and women in lightweight tailored suits bowed to him.
“Welcome, Team Leader.”
Many people, speaking with one voice.
He glanced at the subordinates moving like machines and slowly stepped off the magic circle.
“Where’s the VIP?”
“Alone in his private office.”
“Without security? I clearly told you to keep at least three people stationed in the hallway—”
Boom!
A muffled crash from somewhere cut him off. He could guess what had happened and clicked his tongue.
“I’ll go see him. Leave one person here and clear Section A.”
“Yes.”
His subordinates moved in perfect order as soon as he gave the command. Leaving them behind, he headed down the wide corridor.
At least fifty Magic Traps guarded it against intruders, but the access card around his neck concealed a device that let him pass safely through the minefield.
Bzzzt.
Head of Security Go Se-won
A red glow swept past him, and the mana churning on every side settled instantly.
Go Se-won crossed the seemingly endless corridor with practiced ease and stopped before a firmly closed door.
Knock, knock.
“It’s Go Se-won.”
An irritable voice came from the other side.
“Come in.”
Go Se-won slowly took hold of the knob and pushed the door open.
The office looked as though a bomb had gone off. In the middle of the wreckage, a man sat on a sofa, staring at him with a red glow in his eyes.
“You’re later than usual.”
Go Se-won bowed his head without a word. Amid the scattered debris, a nameplate gleamed.
Ares Guild Vice Guild Master Go Jun
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