“Hurry up and find the portal!”
“It’s the portal!”
Ichan, who had stood at the very back, broke into a wide smile and ran out. Sinhyeok felt an ominous premonition looking at the portal.
‘Why did it shrink?’
The portal had shrunk in size.
Maintaining the portal depended entirely on the core’s power and the will of the master who constituted this world.
Opening it was difficult, but closing it was equally arduous—to the point of abandoning this world.
“Hyung?! It’s closing!?”
Therefore, closing that portal had to be viewed as a final struggle. Or perhaps it was this world’s intention to somehow capture the three who had just entered.
“Hyung!”
“Mister!”
Ichan and Baek Arin despaired as they watched the portal close.
“Damn it!”
Sinhyeok sighed at the situation veering away from his expectations and spoke.
“We can get out. Let’s hide for now.”
They fled to a corner to avoid the rampaging bull.
Sinhyeok pushed them in and wrapped his arms around them in an embrace.
“Ah?!”
“Ugh!”
At their reactions, Sinhyeok frowned instead.
“I hate this too, you brats!”
At Sinhyeok’s touch, the auras of the two that had been leaking into the air were all caught and frozen solid.
Thanks to that, the leak of spreading energy vanished.
“This should make us a bit harder to find.”
As Baek Arin was forcibly held in Sinhyeok’s arms, a memory from long ago surfaced.
‘This way, they won’t find us easily. So just endure a little longer.’
During the Gate Break eight years ago, a soldier mister had protected her while saying those words.
‘No way. My mister, like this?’
She raised her head and looked at the heavily aged Sinhyeok with his scraggly beard.
“There’s no way you’ve aged.”
Sinhyeok frowned, looking at Baek Arin who openly said he had grown old right in front of him.
“Yeah, I got old. So what? Who are you making fun of?”
“Exactly. You’re not him.”
“Shit.”
Sinhyeok felt his stress surge because of Baek Arin acting up in his arms.
“Hyung, it passed.”
Ichan whispered.
“Okay.”
They ended the forced embrace for now and separated.
“Hyung, are we done for now?”
“Mister, what did you mean earlier when you said we could get out?”
Ichan was frustrated, and Baek Arin clung to hope even in despair.
“We can open the portal from our side too. But we have to find the core.”
Naturally, if this side closed it, they could still open it from their side.
They just had to find that thing called the ‘core.’
“So shush and let me concentrate.”
Sinhyeok watched their surroundings, thinking of the monster that had been rampaging earlier.
‘That monster from earlier must be the Guardian protecting the core.’
If so, the core was not far away.
He concentrated and began mana mapping again.
He scanned the surroundings of the labyrinth, searching for anything that could be considered the ‘core.’
The core’s form was extremely varied. It could be a living being or an object.
However, as it was an object embodying tremendous energy, the amount of energy it emitted was no joke.
‘Where is it?’
He gradually lowered the mapping’s probe downward.
Going down the stairs, he caught a glimpse of a human figure tightly bound in threads emanating faint mana.
“Found it.”
‘It’s weak.’
It was incomparably weaker than the cores Sinhyeok knew well.
‘At this level, it’s practically dying.’
Opening his eyes, he spoke to the two who had been waiting quietly.
“We’re going to find the core from now on. So follow me quietly.”
The two nodded.
They moved to find the core while erasing their presence.
Holding their breath and silencing their sound, they moved to where the core was situated.
At the deepest part of the labyrinth, a human figure made of thread bundles emanating heavy dark mana like Ichan was positioned.
‘This is it.’
He felt it immediately. The thread-bundle core flinched. The threads moved thinly and lunged toward Ichan.
“Up?!”
The surprised Ichan stepped back, and Baek Arin blocked in front of him and slashed with her sword.
“Hyung! I’ll get caught like this!”
Ichan exclaimed in disgust as he avoided the pursuing threads.
“Hold on. I’ll take care of it right away.”
Sinhyeok reached his hand toward the thread-bundle core.
The moment his hand touched it, the system reacted immediately.
*Ding.*
[This gate’s quest is currently in progress.]
[It cannot be completed without defeating the Guardian.]
“Oh, come on!”
Everyone frowned at the absurd message.
“H-Hyung!”
Baek Arin immediately stepped forward and struck with her sword.
The thread-bundle core, sensing impending destruction, showed suspicious movements.
Threads streamed out and headed somewhere.
Sinhyeok, who had been focusing on that movement, discovered one long extended thread.
‘Where is that going?’
From the direction of the trembling thread’s end, rough breathing and footsteps were heard.
Sinhyeok’s mood soured as he had a bad premonition.
“Damn it! Making things so filthy!”
Sinhyeok grabbed Ichan and Arin by the scruff and ran.
“Get away!”
Soon after, an excited Minotaur appeared and crashed into the core.
“Mooooo!”
The bull threw its body at the thread bundle.
The bull fused with the core. Everyone’s expressions grew strained at the strengthened boss monster.
Mana exploded out from the Minotaur that had swallowed the thread-bundle core.
“Mister?!”
Baek Arin called for Sinhyeok, gripping her sword tightly with trembling hands.
“Let’s think about this.”
Sinhyeok aimed his rifle at the monster calmly and pondered.
‘Our firepower is insufficient.’
He assessed their current combat strength.
One dark elf who pulls out strange ghosts, and one girl who seems to just use a sword.
“Ah, shit. It can’t be helped.”
There was only one method.
‘The core is already dying. Then, we’ll just have to gnaw away diligently.’
“Run for now!”
At Sinhyeok’s words, the excited monster charged forward.
“Aaack!”
Ichan ran like mad, and Arin chased after him.
Sinhyeok explained to the two while running.
“We have to detach the core!”
Arin glanced back and shouted.
“You’re going to detach it, right?!”
“No!”
She glared at him with murderous eyes.
“We’ll take turns being bait to gnaw away at its strength!”
At those words, she looked back again.
Seeing the black bull overflowing with excited energy, her head shook on its own.
“Is this going to take a hundred years?!”
“It won’t take that long! Ichan, run faster!”
At those words, Hong Ichan ran with all his might.
Sinhyeok turned around and fired a magic bullet.
*Boom!*
However, the bullet merely grazed its temper and needlessly fueled its rage.
Then the Minotaur erupted mana even more madly.
“You see?! This is it! Everyone wait your turn! Go wait anywhere!”
While Sinhyeok held the monster’s attention, the two scattered at the crossroads.
When Sinhyeok began mapping, the surroundings became vividly clear.
“Kraaaack!”
The monster brushed off the bullet and charged.
Sinhyeok immediately ran toward Ichan.
He could see Ichan gasping for breath in the distance.
“Hey!”
Hong Ichan was startled when he saw the monster.
And then something unexpected happened.
He pulled phantoms out from both eyes.
‘Why is that coming out of his eyes?’
It was bizarre.
But the effect was outstanding.
The phantoms grabbed the bull, muddled its temper, and made it rampage even more.
“Kraaang!”
*Thud. Thud.*
It struck down in all directions with the axe in its hand.
“H-Hyung?! I’m almost—”
Sinhyeok pulled a water bottle from subspace and threw it.
“Hold onto that!”
The phantoms gradually scattered.
Then the bull sniffed with its nose and tried to chase Ichan.
“Where do you think you’re going.”
*Boom!*
He fired a shot right at its nose.
The properly hit Minotaur staggered back greatly.
“Hey! Bull head!”
At Sinhyeok’s fierce shout, the Minotaur’s head whipped around.
“Come here!”
It immediately headed toward Baek Arin, who was waiting with her sword drawn.
“Hey!”
Soon, it found her too.
She took a deep breath as she saw the bull and waited.
Sinhyeok urgently shouted to her, who was just holding her sword.
“Hey! Use an aura or something!”
At those words, Baek Arin shouted with an absurd expression.
“You have to be over level 10 for that!”
Sinhyeok spoke as if that were obvious.
“Hey! If you just release it, it’s an aura! Just use it!”
Arin’s lid blew off at the old fogey’s remark.
“Level. Ten. You need level ten to use it!”
She thrust her sword forward.
Sinhyeok watched the tip of the sword brush past him.
‘Good color.’
Her thrusting posture was quite good.
However, Sinhyeok immediately prepared to grab her by the scruff and pull her back.
“What?!”
The sword reached the black bull but didn’t pierce it, only further provoking it.
“I told you to just release it. Is it that hard?”
The Minotaur spewed irritation as the blade struck its forehead.
As Baek Arin was pulled back, she was dumbfounded and incredulous at Sinhyeok’s words.
“Does that make any sense?”
Sinhyeok shouted while luring the monster with his gun.
“Hey, you idiot! Do you think that Awakening is really a game! That’s a guide! Hurry up and use it!”
Baek Arin blanked out slightly at those words.
‘What is an aura?’
She had once asked an Orc instructor.
Since they were beings different from Awakeners, she had asked out of curiosity how they viewed auras.
But his answer was identical to that mister’s.
‘It’s just mana going out. Tch.’
*Click.*
Sinhyeok’s expression twisted.
“Now of all times?!”
He was about to draw his pistol when he thought of Ichan.
“We’re screwed.”
Sinhyeok covered his face with both arms.
‘Less pain, please, less pain!’
He waited for the pain, but it didn’t come.
When he looked ahead, Baek Arin was swinging her blade harboring a blinding light.
Before her eyes was a message conveyed by Yggdrasil.
[You have bloomed Aura (Light).]
“Mister, this is insane!”
She stabbed the Minotaur’s chest with surprised eyes.
“Kraaaack!”
The monster pierced by light struggled and staggered back.
The Minotaur properly struck by aura staggered and then bolted in another direction.
“Huh?! Hey, hey! It’s going to Ichan!”
“Mister, run!”
Hong Ichan had been waiting calmly, but upon seeing the bull charging toward him, he shouted with full fighting spirit.
“All right! Come at me, I’m pretty good too!”
He flinched.
Its momentum was no joke.
And behind the bull, Sinhyeok and Baek Arin were chasing with panicked faces.
“Run!”
The Minotaur lunged to bite Ichan with desperate intent.
“Aaaack! Save me!”
The monster raised its axe and gathered its strength fully.
Dense mana flowed out, trying to overwhelm Ichan.
“Damn it!”
Sinhyeok cut across in front of the monster.
And caught the descending axe with his bare hand.
“Kuh!”
Blood trickled down from his hand.
But the black mana on the axe blade liquefied and streamed down.
The flustered monster looked back and forth between Sinhyeok and the axe.
“Hey!”
Baek Arin, whose eyes met Sinhyeok’s, caught on and unleashed a heavy aura, slashing the bull’s neck.
*Shhhhk.*
Blood scattered in the air.
Its head fell to the floor with a thud, and the thread bundle crawled out like a parasite.
“Ah, shit.”
Sinhyeok immediately touched the thread bundle with his bleeding hand.
Sinhyeok ignored the flood of messages that popped up and waited for the portal to open.
[You have completed the quest.]
[Items most needed by each individual will be provided.]
[Additionally, proficiency will be provided.]
[Mana Mapping’s proficiency has increased.]
[Having reached Level 10, one mapping probe has been added.]
Sinhyeok let out a sigh of relief at the messages that appeared immediately after.
“Phew, it’s done. Let’s get out of here.”
[Rewards are provided to inventory.]
Everyone fidgeted with their inventories as if they had received something.
[Blood of the Corrupted Evil Dragon] [Rare]
===================================
Blood of a nameless lesser dragon, a winged reptile that failed to receive wisdom.
※ Upon refinement and consumption, increases mana dominion.
===================================
He gazed at the hardened drop of blood he had received as a reward.
‘This is exactly what I need.’
The stat called mana dominion was clearly meant for Sinhyeok no matter who looked at it.
“Hyung! The portal’s open.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Sinhyeok crossed through the portal, following the two.