B-rank dungeon, [Silent Stone Tomb].
Normally, because of the cliff-like rock walls and gargoyles popping out from all directions, it was a troublesome gate where coordination between party members and meticulous formation maintenance were essential.
The purpose of the adaptation training was also to leave data on how Ian, as a healer, looked after party members in such actual combat situations and dealt with crisis situations. However.
Kwaaaaang—!
Alexander Gray swung his hammer and struck a gargoyle that had come out. The gargoyle’s body half-crumbled in one hit and flew far away. They said his strength alone was the strongest in the world. The gargoyles flew to the next world by his hand as soon as they awakened.
“Hahaha! Did you see that just now, Ian-nim? Me defeating the gargoyle!”
Alexander Gray shouted with exaggerated gestures, his blonde hair fluttering. The expensive-looking hammer in his hand sparkled gold.
“This is the strong power that no one can dare challenge! How is it? Standing behind my back, doesn’t even this terrible dungeon feel like a peaceful walking path?”
“Ah, yes.”
For it to be peaceful, his ears were too stuffy. It was due to being overworked by the roars bursting out constantly. Ian rubbed his ears and then gave soulless applause. Because of Alexander’s desire to show off, Ian wasn’t given even one second to adapt to the gate.
‘But that’s not the real problem.’
Alexander’s excessive self-praise perfectly grated on the nerves of the two beasts walking beside him.
“Ha!”
Choi Jaeheon snorted coldly with his arms crossed.
“Relying on one weapon and making a fuss over killing a few gargoyles. Ian, the dust is severe. Don’t go that way.”
“I won’t.”
“Right, good job.”
The moment Choi Jaeheon’s chilling eyes flashed.
Crrrack—, crack!
Several gargoyles hiding in the rock wall that Alexander hadn’t managed to deal with were all crushed to death in midair by invisible massive telekinesis. It was an overwhelming and clean massacre where not a single stone fragment flew.
“Urgh.”
Alexander, seeing that, made a bizarre sound and twitched his mouth. But there was still one more left.
“It’s disrespectful for such vulgar demon corpses to roll around on the path Ian-nim will take. I’ll open the way.”
Kaaang—!
When Vermouth swung his sword, a pure white aura without a trace of murkiness extended to the end of the dungeon in the form of a huge crescent moon. Where the aura swept through, not only monsters but even terrain features didn’t remain.
“Huh?”
Alexander, seeing that, rubbed his eyes. But the scene before him didn’t change. The rock walls that had been blocking the front had all disappeared and become flat ground.
‘I was going to be active!’
Choi Jaeheon was also outstanding, but Vermouth was a person beyond standards. So no matter how much Alexander rampaged, it seemed he wouldn’t be able to beat him.
“Nothing goes according to plan.”
Alexander coveted both Ian and Vermouth. Korea had such small land, so why did such talented people keep emerging? No, Vermouth had naturalized, so was he an exception? But even trying to find out his original nationality, there was no clear information. It meant there was some entangled story in his naturalization too.
‘I want to know.’
Alexander thought so and raised his hammer again. Thanks to the dungeon being quite spacious, there were still surviving monsters. So he thought he’d be a bit more active.
Thus the three S-rank Awakeners devastated the dungeon. Monsters disappeared as powder as soon as they appeared, and Ian just had to trudge along the wide-open flat ground.
The words ‘gate adaptation training’ couldn’t be more meaningless.
“……”
Yoon Taegyeom, watching that scene from the very back, looked down at the gate recording pad helplessly.
Only 12 minutes since entry. The boss room of the B-rank dungeon was already right before them. At this rate, it was a matter of time before they renewed the shortest gate clear record.
‘But this isn’t training!’
Ian, the training target, was splendidly only performing walking exercise, and the gate was being cleaned by three beasts on their own. In the midst of that, since they were all S-rank, they didn’t even make a single scratch.
“Idiots.”
Yoon Taegyeom muttered with haggard eyes.
Not long after, Choi Jaeheon’s telekinesis, Vermouth’s aura, and Alexander’s hammer swung simultaneously, and the boss Red Gargoyle evaporated without even screaming.
Clear in 15 minutes after entry. It was the end of utterly futile training.
“Everyone, good work. With this, I’ll process Choi Ian-ssi’s mandatory training time as fulfilled. Let’s leave immediately.”
Yoon Taegyeom said with a tired expression. Because he knew that even if they trained more from now on, it wouldn’t be much different from the current situation. Thus everyone exited the gate.
“Mmm.”
Ian stretched while breathing the clear outside air. And at that moment, the returned cell phone started vibrating like crazy. At the same time, the gate danger alarm sounded loudly. The same was true for Yoon Taegyeom and Choi Jaeheon’s phones.
“What’s going on?”
Choi Jaeheon checked his phone with a coldly hardened face. Yoon Taegyeom seemed to have called the Management Bureau directly.
—It’s an emergency! Sudden gates have occurred simultaneously across the nation including Seoul! Moreover, it’s an abnormal wavelength unlike before!
“Gates opened simultaneously across the nation?”
Yoon Taegyeom’s eyes narrowed. No matter how much it was an era of frequent gate occurrences, gates opening simultaneously on a national scale was unprecedented in history. Could this be seen as coincidence?
“Oh my, it seems something dangerous has happened. It’s an allied country’s matter, so I can’t ignore it.”
Alexander grinned slyly and slung his hammer over his shoulder.
“We’d be grateful if you help.”
Even if he was ridiculous, he was the great Empire Guild’s Guild Master. If he helped, it was right to accept. Yoon Taegyeom took all of them and headed straight to the Management Bureau. In this situation, it was safer for Ian to move together too.
“Something’s strange.”
Vermouth whispered in Ian’s ear.
“There was one time it was like this in that place in the past too.”
At those words, Ian turned to look at Vermouth.
“First reconnaissance, then infiltration. Usually the purpose is assassination of key figures. Perhaps.”
We might be the target. Ian felt he knew what Vermouth had omitted. The demon race they’d let live last time—that bothered him. An unpleasant and ominous premonition vividly scratched across his skin.
***
Beyond Earth’s ordinary and everyday space, a pitch-black space clinging like a reverse side.
In that place where not a point of light reached, damp and sticky demonic energy was swirling like a massive swamp. Piercing through that squelching darkness, bizarrely distorted shadows gathered one by one, murmuring.
“I saw it. I saw it clearly with my own two eyes. Definitely, it was those two bastards.”
A bizarre and creepy voice like scraping an iron plate with nails cut through the air. The demon race Shadow Stalker, who had recently targeted Ian’s life on Earth and lost part of his torso to Vermouth’s aura. Having barely avoided annihilation and fled, he swallowed his fear and transmitted his memories to his comrades.
[The detestable Saint who dyed Lancia’s battlefield with terrible light. And that white knight bastard who tore our flesh and slaughtered our kin without a moment’s hesitation. Those two monsters are blatantly breathing in this world!]
“Krrrk, are you certain? If it’s a lie, I’ll tear your soul apart right now! Why would those from Lancia exist here, crossing dimensions!”
“It’s not a lie! I saw and felt it directly! I felt that terrible and dazzling divine power that burned our origin!”
At Shadow Stalker’s conviction-filled scream, the red lights of the dozens of gathered demon race simultaneously glinted brightly in the darkness.
They weren’t simply low-level monsters craving blood and slaughter. With clear intelligence, they were an advance party and reconnaissance team secretly dispatched to perfectly invade and conquer this blue planet.
Unlike Lancia, which they found terrible, Earth had no blind faith toward gods. Even if it existed, gods didn’t pay compensation for it. Therefore, they couldn’t see clergy who used divine power, nor Holy Knights. Though there were those who handled abilities, as long as it wasn’t divine power, they were manageable opponents.
For defeated fugitives to invade, it was truly a perfect fit, an all-too-sweet prey. However, the fact that the predator they feared most lurked in the center of that coveted hunting ground was enough to flip the situation.
“We must kill those two bastards! If we just kill those guys.”
“We can get our hands on Earth.”
“Is that really so?”
Someone raised a question.
“What if another human can come over from Lancia?”
“That’s impossible. Moving between dimensions is difficult for humans. Because they belong to the Middle Realm.”
Even the demon race had paid many sacrifices to move an army this far. There was no way humans, who valued their kin’s lives, would use the same method.
“So those two are all there is.”
Then the story changes.
