Ryoo, Dr. Kang, and the Research Team arrived at the scene.
This time, they brought special equipment designed to deal with the Gate.
Ryoo checked the radio again.
“Doctor Lee, they’ve entered the Gate. Deploy the Evacuation Team into the building and get ready to retrieve Doctor Lee.”
Ryoo gripped the nozzle of the Ice Gun.
They had packed all the gear: Fireproof Suits, Gas Masks, Ice Gun, and even a handgun for emergencies.
Dr. Kang frowned as he spoke.
“Dr. Ryoo, are you going in personally as well?”
“Of course. I need to bring the gear to the field myself. Back in my professor’s lab, even during graduate school, I wasn’t allowed to grill meat at company dinners.”
“Why not?”
“Because I was just a newbie.”
“Wow, a real greenhorn.”
Dr. Kang put on a face of disbelief, then turned to check the equipment again.
“We came in such a hurry. What exactly is the Ice Gun? And why does our paranormal research lab have one?”
“It’s a machine that sprays Dry Ice to catch bedbugs. It’s also a sterilization method used when we can’t determine the molecular biology or unique toxins of the contaminant.”
“I see.”
Ryoo explained at length, but that didn’t explain how Doctor Lee knew to bring the Ice Gun or how she found out about it.
Ryoo seemed to mull it over for a moment, then spoke.
“They say some strange fungus is growing in Gate No. 3. Doctor Lee ordered us to wipe it out and freeze it so we could collect samples.”
“How did she know?”
Dr. Kang immediately asked, but maybe his mind was elsewhere, or maybe Ryoo couldn’t hear because of the Fireproof Suit, because there was no answer.
Dr. Kang sighed softly, put on his equipment, and followed Ryoo toward the building.
“Here’s the mission. Avoid monsters, destroy all Black Slime, and collect specimens.”
“Alright.”
Inside, Dr. Kang was troubled.
Having this gear in Daejeon meant the Gate-specific equipment was prepared even before the Gate opened.
“How? Why?”
Come to think of it, the Ice Gun wasn’t necessary for the Goblin Gate or the Machine Church Gate.
So, the Dry Ice decontamination equipment must have been prepared specifically for this Gate…
But the timeline didn’t match up.
They realized the need for the Ice Gun after the cleanup of this Gate began, but they were told to bring it even before that?
“Something is definitely strange.”
Did Doctor Lee somehow know when the Gate would open, and what would come out? And even had the solutions for each problem ready?
Setting aside his growing suspicion, Dr. Kang followed Ryoo into the building where the Gate was open.
The empty Outlet building felt oddly eerie. It was as if something essential was missing.
Perhaps it was the discomfort of a familiar space turning into a battlefield—forced to enter in Fireproof Suits.
Ryoo bent down to inspect the bloodstains on the floor and the nearby patch of growing Black Slime.
“This must be the contaminant Doctor Lee mentioned.”
“Yes.”
Dr. Kang aimed the Ice Gun and froze the problematic Black Slime, then collected the frozen slime into a Sample Vial.
He didn’t know exactly what the Black Slime was, but seeing how much it spread in just a few hours, it was certainly no ordinary thing.
That thought made Dr. Kang’s back shiver.
***
This is the space beyond the third Gate.
High above, atop a strangely shaped tree, a horrific Tentacle Dragon flew past.
I loaded my rifle and aimed at the monster flying over my head.
“It’s the same one I saw earlier.”
A single shot from the Hunter Rifle wouldn’t kill such a creature, but it might restrict its movement or injure it.
Tang!
The Tentacle Dragon’s gaze immediately snapped to me, but the spot where the Hunter Rifle hit was already splattered with blood.
The beast crashed down, grabbing the tree on its way down.
Bang! The giant monster’s fall sent water droplets flying everywhere. A furious screech echoed.
The beast folded its tattered wings close to its body and charged at me. Dozens of eyes glared my way.
I had only one Tear Gas Grenade left.
But.
I glanced at Honey Combo.
“Honey Combo! Go finish it off!”
Didn’t I have a Summoned Beast that could spray poison?
It was the perfect counter to the Tentacle Dragon, which could withstand physical attacks.
In the brief moment as the monster charged.
Honey Combo, like a rooster about to fight, spread its wings wide and stood in front of me.
Its size had grown from chick to something as large as a big dog. I double-checked my Gas Mask.
The Basilisk is one of the toughest and most dangerous monsters.
From between its feathers, a white powdery toxic substance seeped out.
All this happened in just a few seconds.
The Tentacle Dragon rammed into Honey Combo, who was sent flying far away.
I didn’t miss my chance and aimed my gun at the monster.
“The poison really works.”
The Tentacle Dragon thrashed about like a live octopus on a grill. I threw my last Tear Gas Grenade at the beast.
At last, the Tentacle Dragon died.
“It’s over.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Honey Combo, looking sullen, folded its wings and walked back to my side.
“Sorry. Didn’t expect you’d get tossed like that.”
“Squawk.”
Honestly, I thought you’d dodge with those wings.
Maybe it can’t really fly since it’s just a chicken?
I fired a few more shots from my rifle into the Tentacle Dragon’s corpse.
The Basilisk started devouring the Tentacle Dragon’s carcass.
“So it’s immune to the manufactured poison.”
I thought it wouldn’t eat it because of the poison, but I was wrong.
As I adjusted my crooked Gas Mask, I felt a strange sensation.
“If I didn’t have this, I’d be dead too.”
I shook my head a few times to clear my mind and pulled out the folding shovel from my bag.
I began to dig into the Tentacle Dragon’s carcass, as if carving up a steak.
“Maybe there’s a Magic Stone inside?”
Dissecting the Tentacle Dragon wasn’t as easy as I thought. Blood and black flesh splattered everywhere.
Well, since it withstood bullets with its defense and regeneration, it’s no wonder it’s not easy to cut up with just a shovel.
Now, I sawed into the monster’s body with the shovel.
Chunk! Chunk! Chunk!
I squinted and tried to see if there was a Magic Stone inside.
After all, both Goblins and Iron Spiders had Magic Stones.
I sat down on the ground, leaning against the Tentacle Dragon’s corpse.
The Basilisk kept on munching.
“Honey Combo.”
“Squawk?”
“Do you know what a trilobite’s crystal lens is made of?”
She looked blank.
“Birdbrain.”
Whether the Basilisk understood me or not, she turned her head and continued eating.
I cleared my throat and kindly explained for Honey Combo.
“A trilobite’s eyes are made of calcite. Unlike the lenses of humans or other vertebrates, which are made of flexible tissue, theirs are made of a mineral that doesn’t flex. So, while they can’t finely focus their eyes like humans, they can process peripheral vision or contrast information, right?”
The Basilisk didn’t answer.
“That’s why trilobites didn’t have a single large eye, but many simple calcite lenses combined to form a compound eye. The Tentacle Dragon is similar—it uses many eyes to look around.”
There. Mingming at least pretends to listen when I talk like this, but this chicken doesn’t even pretend to pay attention.
To sum up, the Tentacle Dragon’s body had many eyes embedded, and my conclusion was that the calcite lenses of those eyes served as Magic Stones.
Now, I had to pluck out each of the Tentacle Dragon’s eyeballs and extract the Magic Stones…
“Just thinking about it makes me queasy.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, plucked the nearest Tentacle Dragon eyeball, and sliced it in half with a knife.
Inside, a transparent lens about the size of a thumbnail appeared. Even small Magic Stones like this are useful when you collect a few.
I used the Seeker’s Trait Activation on the Magic Stone.
[You have obtained the Tentacle Dragon’s crystal lens.]
[Seeker Points +20.]
[Enlightenment Level 2 Progress: 180/200.]
It was a bit disgusting, but a fruitful harvest nonetheless.
I took out another Sample Vial and collected a few Magic Stones.
Soon, I’d reach the next level.
“Let’s move, Honey Combo.”
Honey Combo marched on ahead. I looked around once more. There had to be some kind of structure nearby.
Like the Stone Temple in the Goblin Gate, or the ruined city in the Machine Church Gate, there had to be something here too…
At least that much, I had to find before heading back.
***
I walked through the area.
The black forest was a gloomy and unpleasant place.
Even the slime and every single flower beneath my feet contributed to the mood. You never knew when an octopus monster might charge out.
The forest floor was damp.
It was a swamp, or maybe a mangrove-like terrain. One misstep could actually be fatal.
“Honey Combo. Do you see anything nearby?”
The chicken whipped her head around and then darted between the trees as if flying. Had she really found something?
I checked my surroundings with Insight Magic, then hurried after Honey Combo.
So far, I’d seen countless worlds through many Gates. But it never got any easier to get used to it.
Awed by an unexpected sense of reverence, I lowered my gun.
A monolith.
A huge Stone Temple decorated with gray Marble and Opal—or perhaps a city—was slowly sinking into the darkness of the black forest.
The Outsider City was collapsing in all directions.
Suppressing awe and a nameless fear, I pressed on. It was an ancient city, its name lost to time.
Plants of all colors grew along the walls. Strange creatures shimmered in pearly hues, unlike anything on Earth.
I didn’t know how long they’d been growing here, but at least hundreds of years, it seemed. I dug up some of the plants with my knife.
“Wow.”
Who could have made this, and why?
Why did the people who built such things vanish, leaving behind only a rotting forest and monstrous horrors? Was their world destroyed by the Gate, or by monsters?
The once-great city was returning to nature, or else to decay and ruin brought on by those monsters.
There was nothing left in the buildings now. Only the walls, pillars, and monolithic capstones still retained their shapes.
The huge stones cast deep shadows around. I took a flashlight from my bag and attached it to the rail on my rifle.
Should I have brought a night vision scope? But it seemed too bright for one just yet.
As I shone the flashlight inside the temple, a centipede-like creature hurried away.
I’m not afraid of bugs, but they’re gross. I used the flashlight to chase away as many as possible before stepping forward.
Ugh.
I carefully stepped forward, one step at a time.
I heard something big moving nearby. It sounded like a monster was approaching.
Once again, I had to get ready for battle.