Chapter 36: The Mystical Perspective (3)

The Gate Worshippers were moving busily.

They had expected the National Assembly to come after them, but they hadn’t anticipated such a quick response.

With three Gates open, they’d thought the authorities would be distracted by that, but they were wrong.

As soon as they started the covert operation, they were discovered.

All because of those Scientists.

They blocked Monsters from coming out of the Gates, suppressed them with all sorts of bizarre methods, and won every battle against the Gates.

Now, as soon as they began working with the fake Gate, the doors of the Sanctuary were broken down and the intruders burst in.

All day long, they’d sensed something was wrong—the oddly shaped Pigeon Drones and Crows wandering around.

Here, among the Gate Worshippers, the leader, ‘Red Knight,’ tossed a bloodstained sword onto the Altar.

Behind the Altar, the black Obsidian Sphere began to emit a faint, ghostly light.

This was the fake Gate.

The Gate Worshippers believed this was the closest thing to a Deity.

To some, it might be a Curse.

Even the fake Gate, like its Main Body, could grant Monsters, objects, and powers from the otherworld.

Blood splattered across the Altar, and from the fake Gate emerged a hulking Monster. With this, perhaps their pursuers could be delayed.

Amidst the dense fog, an Iron Armor-clad humanoid Iron Giant slowly revealed itself.

A massive Monster clad in Iron Armor.

“Leave the Monster here and withdraw! Let those bastards fight the Monster while we escape—”

The Iron Armor-clad Giant surveyed its surroundings.

The Awakened, sensing the threat, tried to escape, but the Monster swung its enormous Greatsword in a flash.

Thunk!

Blood splattered across the ground as the Iron Armor Monster charged at the Hunters.

The Awakened scattered in terror, but the humanoid Iron Armor Monster was much faster than it appeared.

Bang!

One Hunter fired a Shotgun, but the Monster’s Iron Armor didn’t show a scratch.

Someone threw a Magic Spear infused with Aether.

The spear stuck in the armor, but nothing happened. The Monster merely turned its head slowly to look.

With a swing of its sword, the entire building shook.

“Caretaker!”

“We’re trying!”

A few Awakened among the Gate Worshippers dashed forward, trying to control the Monster.

Until now, the other Monsters from the Gate could be controlled by the Caretaker—

But this time, they failed.

Despite its size, the Monster moved like lightning, knocking everyone down.

Dragging its massive Greatsword across the ground.

The Hunters gathered at the scene were killed or forced to flee.

Such was the consequence of meddling with the unknown.

The other Monsters gathered there also scattered one by one, their handlers gone.

***

I dashed into the building with the Hunter Association President.

The Ruins were eerier than I expected. Inside, the lighting and Surveillance Cameras seemed deliberately smashed.

Both the President and I could sense our surroundings through Aether, so we decided to go in without lights for now.

We’re fighting people right now…

We needed to be more cautious than usual.

“Detection.”

I held my breath, and the President scanned the darkness as well.

Aside from a few rats scurrying by, the interior was quieter than I expected.

Nothing ever goes exactly according to plan.

To be honest, I’d hoped for something like, ‘FBI! OPEN UP!’ Instead, the enemy was hiding much better than I thought.

I heard footsteps from somewhere.

As quietly as possible, I raised my rifle and began to move forward.

Right before my Return, the enemy had hunted me using this exact same method.

“They attacked my Research Institute, after all.”

The thought irritated me as it flashed through my mind.

“It’s Revenge Hour.”

Far down the corridor, I saw footsteps and a flash from a handheld torch. Clearly, these amateurs didn’t have much combat experience.

“Who’s there?”

Hounds? I glanced at the President, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

Well… I didn’t expect it to be easy.

Judging by how they’d used the Puppet Master’s Summoned Beast as a weapon earlier, these people were likely armed as well.

I didn’t want to start a firefight unnecessarily, but I couldn’t just wait around, either.

I raised three fingers over my shoulder.

Two.

One.

I slipped out from behind the wall and aimed my rifle at the enemy.

My Memory Before Regression guided my trigger finger.

Bang!

The gunshot echoed noisily down the corridor.

The first person holding the torch dropped, while the second fled into the darkness.

I should check on the one who fell—

“So that’s the Hound.”

A strange Monster appeared.

The Hounds charged at me immediately, and I aimed at the Monster.

Bang!

A few Hounds went down.

We briefly inspected the corpse of the Monster.

It was similar to the strange creatures I’d seen at the Goblin Gate.

Just as I thought.

There could be several ways, but these people were raising Monsters by some method.

I checked the fallen person.

The downed Hunter was no longer breathing.

I picked up the sword lying nearby.

[Ordinary Hunter Iron Sword]

[Grade: C]

[An ordinary iron sword. Not particularly great, but it does contain some of the power that came from the Gate.]

I examined the sword for a moment, then put it back down.

“Doesn’t seem like anything special.”

We continued forward.

The fake Gate should be in the deepest part of the underground space.

“With the Traitors.”

Now that the building is completely surrounded, the enemy has nowhere to run.

I reloaded my Hunter Rifle.

“It’s even more repulsive than I thought.”

“Agreed.”

It had been a long time since I fought people, and I didn’t expect it to be this difficult.

I grimaced at the horrific scene unfolding before me.

The underground parking lot of the long-abandoned Ruins.

Dozens of blood trails from people and Beast Footprints were stamped across the ground, and corpses were strewn everywhere. Signs of a battle were everywhere, too.

“Damn it. What is this now?”

“Hey, look at that—”

At the Center of the Parking Lot, a single Black Sphere sat. In front of the Black Sphere was an Iron and Cement Altar.

We had found the fake Gate.

It looked like a battle had already taken place around the fake Gate, and it wasn’t hard to guess what had happened.

“When they realized the building was surrounded, they must have summoned Monsters and tried to use the chaos to escape.”

“And something went wrong?”

“It’s possible even suicide was part of their plan.”

Though I doubted it, the real problem was: what was the high-level Monster they summoned doing now?

“…Whew.”

I let out a sigh.

“……Let’s follow the Blood Trail.”

If the Monster that wiped out the Traitors encountered the Police or a Beginner Hunter outside, it would be a disaster.

Still, our main objective was accomplished.

Indirectly or not, we’d succeeded in dealing with multiple Traitors.

“Let’s go quickly.”

“Let’s take care of that thing first.”

Should we destroy the fake Gate? Is it even possible?

I aimed my rifle at the Obsidian Sphere.

Aether flowed through the channels inside the Hunter Rifle—

Bang!

The bullet struck the fake Gate.

The fake Gate shattered with a bang, pieces of stone flying everywhere.

I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Even before my Return, I hadn’t figured out what the fake Gate actually was, or what power it contained.

“But this time, I managed to recover fragments of the fake Gate, so maybe I’ll learn something.”

I connected my radio to Field Team 1 outside the building.

“This is Doctor Lee Han.”

– Doctor Lee. Confirmed.

I hadn’t said anything yet—what were they confirming?

“We’ve found multiple deceased. It seems several Awakened were experimenting with Monsters, and something went wrong. Several high-level Monsters have escaped.”

– Understood. We’ll prepare for engagement.

It wasn’t hard to follow the bloody tracks.

But the shape of the tracks was strange.

They looked like they were made by something several times larger than a human, wearing Iron Boots…

Just what kind of Monster did they summon? The President and I followed the trail imprinted on the ground.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound of metal grinding could be heard in the distance.

Was it an Awakened from another world? We held our breath again.

Clang!

Something exploded.

There was nowhere to hide.

I pulled a Smoke Grenade from my belt and dropped it.

After all, the President and I could still see inside the smoke.

At last, the enormous Monster revealed itself.

It seemed to notice the sound of the smoke grenade going off.

I never wanted to fight such a horrific Monster, but if I didn’t, someone else would have to.

Or, in the worst case, it could escape into the city.

“…More importantly, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

I activated Seeker’s Trait on the Monster.

[Moving Armor]

[Grade: S]

[A horrifying Monster—an Iron Prison containing a twisted soul made of flesh.]

[It expresses the rage of Unending Punishment toward all living things in its vicinity. Extremely dangerous.]

Like an astronaut’s suit, it was huge and blunted in form.

A round helmet like a pinecone sat on top, but I had a gut feeling there was no human inside that armor.

Taller than a refrigerator.

It was hard to see with the naked eye, but maybe there were tentacles of flesh or a slime-like thing inside.

Like a barnacle’s shell…

The Seeker’s Trait gave me more information, but none of it was helpful—if anything, it just made things more ominous.

I raised my gun and aimed at the ‘Moving Armor.’

Bang!

I shot its head with the Hunter Rifle, but something that looked like a red Magic Shield flickered, and it barely had any effect.

Not a scratch on the Iron Armor.

The Monster charged at me at a terrifying speed.

“This is bad.”

I dropped another Smoke Grenade and started to run at full speed.

The President quickly followed after me.

“If you want to live, run!”

“Yes… I think I will.”

It felt like a tank was chasing us.

Why was something several times larger than a refrigerator running at such speed?

“Fall back for now.”

I’d have to think of a way to defeat it, but if I targeted the gaps in the armor precisely, maybe I could bring it down.

Even as I ran, I didn’t stop thinking.

“I do have that one thing I prepared…”

The Underground Shopping Center was spacious, but there were still plenty of narrow places for such a Monster to get stuck.

I ducked behind a suitable Pillar, then summoned a Golem in front of it.

Good thing I had the Golem Core stored up.

Only iron can face iron.

My newly summoned Golem set its iron foot down—

And was immediately grabbed by the Moving Armor.

——-!

The sound of iron clashing with iron.

The Golem swung its arm and struck the armor Monster.

The Monster was much faster than the Golem, but the Golem’s mass bought me some time.

Switching between offense and defense.

Now it was time to hunt the Monster.