Chapter 24: Boss Hunt in the Poisoned Forest

Evan arrived at the location of the first mana stone tower.

Large, colorful petals dyed in red and yellow were scattered across the ground.

“And this makes no sense,” he added, frowning.

“These things should never be found here. What’s going on?”

Evan looked around as he listened.

Trees towered overhead, tall enough to block out the sky.

Upon closer inspection, he realized they were species that didn’t exist anywhere near the Count’s territory.

And then there were the scattered petals of the Callione flower.

“It seems like something unusual is going on around here.”

Evan drew his sword, eyes sharp as he remained alert.

Reynold followed his lead, gripping his large greatsword in both hands.

Alan pointed to a direction with his hand.

“Young Master, there are even more petals scattered over there.”

“Let’s check it out. We were ordered to report anything unusual during patrols.”

Evan took the lead, and Alan and Reynold followed close behind.

As they walked, the forest grew denser.

And with each step, the number of flower petals increased.

“What are these things?”

Evan’s confusion deepened, and then a message appeared before his eyes.

[You have been poisoned by Callione’s Paralysis Toxin.]

[Poison resistance has increased by 120%.]

[Damage from poison reduced by 70%.]

[Poison Resistance skill proficiency has increased!]

‘Wait, poison?’

Evan immediately became alert to his surroundings.

A sweet scent lingered in the air, wafting in from all directions.

Then—

“Young Master, up ahead!”

Alan shouted urgently, and Evan quickly shifted his gaze forward.

Standing before them was a gremlin—or more precisely, a gremlin overrun by a Callione.

It was about waist-high with green skin.

The creature stood upright and had grotesque wings on its back.

And on that back bloomed a large, vibrant flower.

The red and yellow petals belonged to a plant-type monster—Callione.

“A gremlin’s nest… And for some reason, it’s been overtaken by a Callione.”

If it had just been a gremlin, the three of them could’ve easily taken it down.

But with a Callione involved, the situation changed drastically.

Evan shook his head.

“No, we need to fall back for now. These things carry paralysis poison. If we aren’t properly prepared— Alan? Reynold?”

His words didn’t reach them.

Alan and Reynold stood frozen, blankly staring ahead like their souls had left their bodies.

Evan immediately understood.

‘They’ve already been poisoned?’

The moment they stepped into this place, the poisoning must’ve begun.

The faint floral scent—he had dismissed it as part of the environment—but it was actually the Callione’s paralyzing toxin.

It was designed to blend into the surroundings so no one would notice.

Once prey came close, the plant would paralyze them and latch onto a host, like the gremlin before them.

It would dig its roots in and begin siphoning life energy.

Rustle!

Flowers walking on legs revealed themselves all around.

‘A trap?’

Evan furrowed his brow and gripped his dire sword tightly.

‘Callione shouldn’t have this kind of intelligence. Something’s off.’

Each Callione usually acted like an ordinary flower—individual and mindless.

They weren’t capable of coordinated behavior like this or laying traps.

‘Whatever the case, the real danger is the paralysis poison.’

Fortunately, Evan was immune thanks to his Poison Resistance skill.

These enemies were only troublesome when fighting as a group—but alone, he actually had an advantage.

Without hesitation, Evan approached the Callione-infested creatures.

[The effect of the Swordsmanship Talent has activated.]

As the talent kicked in, his movements became naturally refined.

For the first time, Evan fought without any physical restrictions.

The weight on his body—like bags of sand—had vanished.

He felt almost weightless.

He charged at the surrounding Calliones.

Though his timing was a half-beat behind, his body moved exactly as intended.

In a blink, Evan closed the distance and swung his sword.

Slash!

His blade sliced clean through one of the Callione’s stems.

Thud!

Its flowered head dropped to the ground.

But Evan didn’t stop there.

His body continued in a smooth, lightning-fast chain of movements—almost too natural to believe.

One after another, he brought down the Callione monsters by himself.

[Your level has increased!]

The real trouble with Callione was their poison; in terms of raw combat power, they weren’t that strong.

Evan looked around.

The Callione corpses lay strewn across the forest floor.

No more enemies remained.

“Is it over?”

He had hoped to move his body a little more, but the fight had ended too quickly—it left him slightly disappointed.

‘Well, they’re just low-level mobs, after all.’

Shaking off the slight regret, he turned to look at Alan and Reynold.

They were still standing there, dazed.

‘The poison must still be lingering in the forest.’

Sighing, Evan decided he would have to carry them himself.

He approached the spot where they stood.

Then—

Screee…

Vines suddenly shot out from somewhere, wrapping tightly around Alan and Reynold.

They began dragging them away.

***

“…What the hell?”

Evan immediately chased after them.

He rushed through the dense underbrush, until he reached a new location.

And there, above a thick layer of brush, he saw it—

A strange and grotesque sight at the top of a hill.

A hill had formed from the piled-up bones of various monsters.

‘Did something get them here?’

Evan frowned and pushed through the underbrush, approaching the mound of bones.

This was where Alan and Reynold had been dragged.

Just as he arrived at the destination—

Evan finally understood everything upon seeing the scene before him.

“…So this is where the gate was generated.”

A gate, about 3 meters tall, loomed before him, releasing waves of ominous energy across the field.

Alan and Reynold had been dragged into it.

All around the gate, the flower petals and countless vines he’d seen earlier were spread out.

‘Is this caused by the hidden quest?’

Evan had already considered that possibility.

Currently, the major cities within the Count’s territory were all suffering from gate-related incidents.

This place was no exception.

Of course, the gates triggered by hidden quests only went up to D-rank at most.

‘Since the quest difficulty is C-rank, it shouldn’t spawn anything higher than that.’

With that reasoning, Evan had even considered entering if he discovered a gate.

To him, this was an ideal hunting ground.

Evan stopped in front of the gate.

‘Is it an F-rank gate? That’s pretty low.’

Gate ranks could be identified by the color of the ring around them.

This gate’s ring was gray—the lowest rank.

‘Now I get how the Carione monsters moved in such an organized way.

Their boss must be controlling them.’

It looked like the Carione were scattered around the gate, paralyzing prey and dragging them inside to devour them.

‘An F-rank gate is actually a great hunting spot.’

Without hesitation, Evan stepped into the gate.

***

Darwen was currently staying in the capital of the Kerthen County.

He was using a building sponsored by Clyd as the base for his guild.

Since he needed to be nearby to oversee the construction of the magic tower, this arrangement was unavoidable.

Thankfully, Clyd had been supportive about the engagement and had even offered to fund the guild out of goodwill.

In return, Darwen promised to provide magical support to Clyd.

The magic tower construction seemed to be proceeding smoothly.

But that didn’t last.

Just as the project was moving forward, a new obstacle appeared.

‘Something’s off… What in the world is about to happen?’

In the center of the room stood a massive crystal orb.

Within it, red dots had begun to appear.

It was a gate detector, developed by Darwen through extensive magical research.

The red dots represented the gates.

The size of the dot corresponded to the gate’s magnitude.

“They’re popping up this quickly, without warning?”

Thankfully, there were no large-scale gates—only smaller ones scattered throughout the county.

“Master! Urgent news! A dimensional rift has opened just outside the capital!”

“What? Ugh… What a headache. Understood. I’ll head out immediately.”

Darwen quickly issued his orders.

He was already within the Count’s territory and was receiving sponsorship.

It would be disgraceful to just sit back and watch.

He grabbed his staff and began preparing to leave in a hurry.

‘Let’s hope nothing serious happens.’

***

After Darwen left the room—

A moment later, the giant crystal orb displayed a faint red dot, barely visible to the naked eye.

That red dot was massive—large enough to cover the entire capital of the Kerthen County.

A forest shrouded in thick fog.

A foul, damp stench stung Evan’s nose.

As he turned his head to scan the surroundings—

The fog was so dense that even the trees just a few steps away were indistinguishable.

The only thing he could make out was Alan and Reynold still being dragged forward by the vines.

Clicking his tongue at the sight, Evan thought, ‘If you don’t detect paralytic poison in time, it’s over in an instant. Of all things, they got caught by some of the most troublesome low-level monsters…’

There was no choice now but to follow.

To defeat the boss monster, he needed to find its location.

If he just kept going, he was sure to run into it eventually.

Before moving, Evan summoned the gate’s information window.

There were many strategies and tactics for clearing gates.

Even for an F-rank gate, checking the details first was standard procedure.

Evan examined the system window floating before him.

[You have entered the gate.]

[Number of monsters inside the gate: (50/50)]

[Gate clear condition: Defeat the boss monster (0/1)]

There were fifty monsters inside.

For an F-rank gate, that was a bit much, but manageable.

Thankfully, there were no additional conditions—just defeating the boss seemed to be enough.

That was the norm.

Usually, when the boss monster—the core of the gate—was defeated, the seal on the entrance would lift.

‘Since the boss holds the authority to enter and exit the gate. And it usually leaves last.’

If the boss exited the gate first, the gate would collapse.

So bosses often stayed inside until all their subordinates had gone out first.

That way, it was easier to build a stable dungeon structure.

However, there were exceptions—awakened types, berserk types, continuous types, and others—all of which required completely different strategies.

‘But that’s rare. Right now, I just need to beat the boss.’

Evan’s eyes sharpened.

He could sense something nearby.

It seemed the gate’s native inhabitants had noticed an uninvited guest and were reacting.

He raised his mana sensitivity to scan the area.

‘I can’t see well because of the fog… but—’

In cases like this, mana sensing was enough to detect the monsters.

As soon as Evan focused his mana sensing on his surroundings—

‘…So they were already waiting for me?’

He tightened his grip on his sword and went on full alert.

He had sensed the mana signatures of monsters surrounding him.

They must have detected his presence the moment he entered the gate and converged on his location.