Episode 17
An irregular gate was, literally, a gate whose generation pattern could not be determined.
A calamity no different from an asteroid that suddenly came flying in and crashed down.
Even so, the fortunate thing was that two S-ranks had been caught up in this irregular gate.
One was the S-rank curse sorcerer Geum Myeonggyeol, who was making a deflating sound beside him.
The other was—
“Guild Master Geum Myeonggyeol.”
A broad, rugged hand lightly grasped the gaping window frame.
Crunch.
“If you had business with one of my guild members, you should have contacted me.”
Even the right-side door, which had somehow maintained its shape, was torn away like a sheet of paper.
Fwoosh!
Hundreds of blazing fireballs filled the clear blue sky.
“Instead of barging in so recklessly like this.”
Feeling the heat all the way to the tips of his hair, Han Chasu let out a sigh.
“Mm, I really think I’m screwed, don’t you?”
Don’t act friendly with me when your secretary is right there.
Pushing away Geum Myeonggyeol as he leaned in, Han Chasu turned his head.
***
The war of nerves did not last long.
Dudududududu—!
The ground rumbled like an earthquake.
At the vibration strong enough to make the vehicle rattle, all four of them whipped their heads around.
Enormous bulls the size of houses were crossing the meadow, kicking up clouds of dust.
Every time they struck the ground, their tightly packed muscles gleamed beautifully in the sunlight, while only hideous scars filled the places they had passed.
“Wow.”
A voice brushed past his ear, impossible to tell whether it was admiration or lament. It was Geum Myeonggyeol.
“Are those cows or dinosaurs?”
It was the moment Han Chasu and the others agreed with him.
[ Ironclad Bulls (Legion)
detect an alien energy. ]
[ Ironclad Bulls (Legion)
have identified the presence of an enemy. ]
[ The “Unstoppable Ironclad Bull” has discovered your presence! ]
With the final message, an enraged roar shook the air.
Moooooo—!
The bull at the head of the herd raised its horns and stomped the ground with its hind legs.
The gazes of more than fifty bulls all snapped toward them at once.
The heat rising from their heated bodies made the meadow air waver.
Flash.
Han Chasu felt it.
The red eyes of the bull at the front were aimed precisely at him.
Unconsciously, Han Chasu raised the corners of his mouth.
Clatter. He naturally took one step out of the warped vehicle.
[ The “Unstoppable Ironclad Bull” roars toward its comrades. ]
[ The target of the Ironclad Bulls (Legion)
has changed. ]
[ The Ironclad Bulls (Legion)
use “Charge”! ]
It was at that very moment that Jeong Iheun’s hand cut through the air.
Kwaaang!
With one indifferent gesture, hundreds of fireballs crashed down upon the meadow like a meteor shower.
Kwaang, boom, kwaang!
Along with the sizzling sound of flesh cooking, the bulls’ death cries rang out.
Han Chasu frowned at the burnt smell carried on the wind.
“Guild Master Geum Myeonggyeol, let’s continue our conversation.”
Jeong Iheun turned around with an indifferent expression.
The one who placed a hand on his chest was Han Chasu.
“Mr. Han Chasu?”
“It isn’t over yet, Guild Master.”
Han Chasu’s eyes stared beyond the blackened meadow.
Following his gaze, Jeong Iheun turned his head.
Between the mountain-like piles of Ironclad Bull corpses.
The red-eyed bull raised what remained of its upper body and opened its mouth wide.
Shaaak!
Following Jeong Iheun’s finger as it cut through the air, the bull’s head was lopped off with a thud.
However, the final roar left behind by the Ironclad Bull leader soaked the air along with its blood.
Beeeep!
With a chilling alarm that dug into their ears, system windows flooded in.
[ Warning! ]
[ The final scream of the Named, “Unstoppable Ironclad Bull,” echoes across the field! ]
[ The scream spreads throughout the entirety of the “Endless Field”! ]
[ The monsters of the “Endless Field” have recognized your presence! ]
“Wow, for a bull, it’s top-tier at drawing aggro.”
Along with Geum Myeonggyeol’s words, which were impossible to tell whether they were admiration or mockery, the edge of the meadow darkened.
A procession of monsters too numerous to count, whether by the tens or hundreds.
A horde of monsters, easily more than a thousand, began running toward them from beyond the meadow.
***
Thud, thud, thud…!
“More coming from the side! This time it’s the right—no, up, above us!”
“Master, if you have time for on-site commentary, then drive in my place!”
“You know I don’t have a license… Uh, Mr. Han Chasu, be careful.”
The doorless car jolted, leaping high before dropping back down.
Han Chasu let out a deep sigh at the hand holding onto him instead of a seatbelt.
The two attempted kidnappers who had somehow ended up on the same side were not just talkative—they were noisy.
‘I’d rather get out and fight.’
If he could, he wanted to grip his dagger and race across the meadow.
But there were too many eyes watching.
And every single one of them belonged to people who, in the original work, had been hostile to him.
Rather than act out unnecessarily here and invite suspicion, Han Chasu decided to simply play the part of a patient.
“Here we go.”
Guuuuuk….
Just then, with a flutter of Geum Myeonggyeol’s sleeve, several Blackworms were sliced cleanly in half.
The dark threads caught in his hand gleamed like blades.
Geum Myeonggyeol’s weapon, Heukyeonsa.
Come to think of it, he had used that to hang the original Han Chasu from a cave ceiling and torture him.
Han Chasu reflexively shifted his backside away from him.
As soon as he did, Geum Myeonggyeol reached out with ghostly speed.
“Mr. Han Chasu, you’ll get thrown out like that.”
The arm wrapped around his waist in place of the broken seatbelt was extremely uncomfortable.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Come on. Everyone here knows you’re hurt, Chasu. How could I not?”
Geum Myeonggyeol flicked Heukyeonsa with his left hand and winked one eye at Han Chasu.
If you were going to take care of me like this, you shouldn’t have rammed me with a car in the first place.
When Han Chasu looked at him with eyes full of regret, Geum Myeonggyeol shrugged.
“I’ll give you the details once we’re safe. And I’ll apologize too, of course.”
He really was a self-centered man.
Though Han Chasu did not hide his displeasure, for now, he agreed with his opinion.
‘The situation is bad.’
It had been two hours since they were caught up in the sudden gate.
At a rough estimate, they had already killed more than two hundred monsters, but far from seeing any change, the monsters simply kept respawning without end.
‘Something’s strange.’
By this point, Jeong Iheun and Geum Myeonggyeol also seemed to have sensed that there was something unusual about this gate.
Whooooosh—
Bang!
“For now, I’ve burned every monster in the vicinity.”
After perfectly scorching the area within a twenty-meter radius, Jeong Iheun sank down into his seat.
Kieeek—!
In the distance, the death cries of monsters burning in the flames could be heard.
“It seems we’ll be fine for the time being, so let’s sort out the situation.”
Jeong Iheun said this without even turning his head, then snapped his fingers.
Immediately, a massive wall of fire surged up behind them.
“Ugh, hot.”
Ignoring Geum Myeonggyeol’s grumbling, Jeong Iheun had the car stopped.
“It seems there is something we haven’t discovered yet.”
Jeong Iheun opened the discussion while looking beyond the wall of fire.
“Just the monsters we’ve killed so far exceed the total of five ordinary gates combined. Judging by the average, this should have been long since cleared by now.”
“I agree.”
Geum Myeonggyeol raised both hands high and waved them as he shouted.
“If we keep circling this meadow like this, we’ll end up getting eaten in the end.”
Continuing to fight like this without finding a way out of the gate was no different from self-destruction.
Unlike the endlessly respawning enemies, they had clear limits.
They could not continue a meaningless war of attrition.
Han Chasu agreed with their thoughts as well.
However, there was one thing bothering him.
‘Were irregular gates always this unhelpful?’
Originally, an irregular gate was the process by which a fragment of another dimension came into contact with this world for the first time and synchronized with it.
And the thing that existed to safely carry out that process was none other than the system.
And yet, throughout their attack on this irregular gate, the system had not given them any meaningful messages.
The monsters merely kept respawning endlessly….
“Ah.”
Han Chasu turned toward Jeong Iheun and reached out.
“Guild Master.”
Jeong Iheun, who had been undoing his buttons because it was hot, caught Han Chasu’s staggering body in surprise.
“Are you dizzy?”
“No, I’m not. There’s something I want to ask.”
Holding onto Jeong Iheun’s forearm, he asked,
“Did anything happen to drop after the ‘Unstoppable Ironclad Bull’ died earlier?”
“There wasn’t anything in particular… Mm, wait a moment.”
Realizing something at Han Chasu’s question, Jeong Iheun immediately waved his hand.
Seeing him appear to check something, Han Chasu left him be without urging him further.
Soon, Jeong Iheun let out a sigh along with an exclamation.
“We were wandering around when the path was right in front of us.”
“……”
“As expected, we survived because you were here.”
With a sincere word of thanks, Jeong Iheun extended his hand toward Han Chasu.
Resting on his palm was a small jewel.
Inside the hexagonal, colorless jewel, strangely enough, a tiny whirlpool was swirling.
[ Unended Scream (Incomplete) ]
-Gather the souls unable to let go of their lingering attachments and end their screams.
-Soul Collection Status ( 214 / 1000 )
-Completion Reward: ???, Return Stone
※ The rights to this work belong to the copyright holder. Copying, reproducing, modifying, or distributing this work may result in criminal punishment and civil liability.
(17)
============================================================