Episode 4
Team 01 after entering the Gate.
‘Damn it.’
Nam Gyu-il swallowed the curse inwardly.
The energy one invariably felt when passing through a Gate was repulsive.
It felt like something sticky and filthy was brushing across his skin, and his insides churned with every breath.
In short, it was disgusting.
Nam Gyu-il surveyed his surroundings.
He saw blue-green trees and a dense jungle.
The Gate’s background changed every time depending on which monster appeared.
“So this is a Gate….”
Hong Sin-u, who had entered a Gate for the first time, swallowed dryly and looked around.
Nam Gyu-il shouted to everyone.
“From now on, we’re going to destroy the Core inside the Gate. Advance while maintaining a perimeter.”
Nam Gyu-il drew a dagger from his waist and pointed forward.
“Advance!”
As soon as he gave the order, the team members walked forward.
Everyone remained vigilant of their surroundings.
They were tense, not knowing from where a Lizardman might appear.
Hong Sin-u carefully whispered to I Chan-u.
“How strong are Lizardmen?”
“Their brute strength is tremendous, so they’re hard to deal with. Keep your wits about you if you want to survive. Got it?”
“Ah, yes sir.”
Despite his forced answer, Hong Sin-u’s expression darkened.
Rustle.
At that moment, the sound of brushing leaves was heard.
Nam Gyu-il stopped walking.
And he sent hand signals to everyone.
- Monsters nearby.
- Form a defensive perimeter and annihilate them.
The team members who saw the signal grouped into a circle in an instant.
They raised their shields.
It was a formation that allowed them to defend no matter where the monsters appeared from.
Thud, thud, thud.
The dense bushes began to shake.
The sound of heavy footsteps struck everyone’s ears.
Branches snapped, and leaves flew through the air.
“Shaaack-!!”
A Lizardman appeared.
A giant bipedal lizard.
Its skin studded with protrusions was extremely alien, and its height of nearly 2 meters forced them to look up.
A long spear was clutched in the Lizardman’s hand.
Bwooong.
The moment it saw them, it swung its massive spear blade.
Judging by the blade’s thickness alone, it was a good inch thicker than the forearm of an average adult male.
Thwack.
The spear blade struck the National Hunters’ shields.
“Kuaaack-!”
Hong Sin-u screamed and tumbled across the ground.
Fortunately, he wasn’t injured thanks to the shield, but the wrist holding the shield trembled violently.
His stomach clenched tight with tension.
That was how powerful the Lizardman’s attack had been.
As Hong Sin-u gasped for breath and checked to see if his shield was broken.
“Hey, Hong Sin-u. Get a grip!!”
His senior, I Chan-u, shouted.
Only then did Hong Sin-u flinch and look forward.
‘Goddamn it-!!’
The Lizardman, having broken through the formation, was raising its spear to strike him again.
He had to flee quickly.
But having fallen, he missed the timing to evade.
Just as he thought he would die like this less than a week after enlisting!
Whoosh.
Someone rushed at the Lizardman.
A shadow loomed over the creature’s head.
The man who leaped over the Lizardman’s head was Nam Gyu-il.
Thud-
A dull sound echoed through the forest.
“Shiyaaack!”
The Lizardman screamed and toppled forward.
Nam Gyu-il’s kick struck cleanly and powerfully.
His attack, strengthened by Arnia’s training methods, was heavier than imaginable.
The Lizardman’s face was planted into the ground. Its head was buried in the dirt, motionless.
As if it had been knocked unconscious.
The National Hunters of Team 01 opened their eyes wide.
Lizardmen were notoriously tricky monsters to deal with. They were stronger than National Hunters and had durable physiques thanks to their tough muscles.
‘But, with a single kick?!’
‘What happened at the hospital to make him that strong?!’
They were so shocked they couldn’t close their mouths.
Nam Gyu-il slit the Lizardman’s neck with his dagger.
He cleanly severed the artery.
Blood gushed up into the air and spilled out in a torrent.
The Lizardman died of excessive blood loss after spraying a massive amount of blood.
Nam Gyu-il extended his hand to Hong Sin-u.
“Hey, rookie. You alright?”
“Yes? Yes, sir!!”
Hong Sin-u flinched as he replied.
Having witnessed such overwhelming martial might, his mind seemed half-gone.
He was so dazed he couldn’t tell if what he’d just seen was real or not.
Hong Sin-u took Nam Gyu-il’s hand and rose, then looked at the Lizardman’s corpse.
“Staff Sergeant Nam Gyu-il.”
“What?”
“You’re really strong. Truly amazing.”
Hong Sin-u kept repeating how amazing he was with a still-dazed face.
Nam Gyu-il laughed heartily and slapped his back.
Thwack-!!
Along with a rather painful sound, Hong Sin-u scrunched up his face, tearing up.
“Kuk~”
Nam Gyu-il gave advice to the groaning Hong Sin-u.
“Well, don’t just stand there spacing out because I’m so amazing. This is a Gate.”
Only then did Hong Sin-u snap to attention.
Tension swept over his face again, which had been half out of it.
That’s right, this was a Gate.
It was a place where letting your guard down meant death, so he had to stay sharp no matter what.
Nam Gyu-il stood at the forefront and led everyone.
Hong Sin-u stared at his back with the face of someone beholding an idol.
‘What he said in the vehicle earlier wasn’t a joke.’
He’d said to call his name if anything happened, and that was because he was truly that capable.
Hong Sin-u felt Nam Gyu-il’s back was dependable.
The man looked larger than life.
‘Can I become someone like that someday?’
He didn’t know.
But one thing was certain.
‘I should follow Staff Sergeant Nam Gyu-il’s orders unconditionally. That’s how I survive.’
Hong Sin-u gripped his shield properly.
And he looked at Nam Gyu-il with eyes filled with resolve.
Meanwhile, I Chan-u tried to lift the spear the Lizardman had been holding with both hands.
“The Lizardman’s spear is better than our daggers?”
I Chan-u grunted and barely lifted the spear, but it was so heavy he staggered.
Nam Gyu-il shouted at I Chan-u.
“Leave the spear. What’s the point of lugging it around if it’s too heavy to swing properly?”
“But it’s better than our weapons.”
When I Chan-u quickly countered, Nam Gyu-il snickered.
“Hey, Chan-u.”
“Yes.”
“Greed’ll get you hurt. Use your dagger.”
“Hyung, aren’t you tempted by the spear at all?”
“A blade I’m used to is better than a spear I’ve never used before.”
Nam Gyu-il showed off his dagger and led everyone forward.
I Chan-u had no choice but to abandon the spear.
As Nam Gyu-il led the team forward, he suddenly sensed something strange.
Squelch.
His shoe stepped into a crimson puddle.
A puddle of pooled blood.
As he turned his eyes, he saw scratch marks here and there on the trees.
Even a pillar had snapped and been driven into the ground.
Unmistakable traces of battle.
‘It’ll be too dangerous to advance any further.’
Nam Gyu-il halted the team.
Then, surveying the surroundings carefully, he gave the order to be on guard.
Everyone gripped their weapons tightly and raised their shields to be ready for combat at any moment.
After observing for a while, Nam Gyu-il made a decision.
“There are no monsters nearby.”
The team members let out long breaths and slumped their shoulders.
It felt like the tension had drained away at once.
Nam Gyu-il knelt down to examine the footprints around them.
The clearly imprinted sharp toes indicated these were Lizardman prints.
By contrast, the footprints beside them….
‘Human?’
The grid-like pattern of intersecting lines stood out.
This was the kind of footprint left by someone wearing shoes.
Nam Gyu-il carefully recalled the report he had heard from the soldiers outside the Gate.
‘They said there were survivors from Team 07.’
Without a doubt.
That was the report the soldier had given him.
Then Team 07, who had entered the Gate first, must have fought their final battle here.
‘But why…?’
Were there no corpses?
Lizardmen hunted and ate humans.
If Team 07’s National Hunters had died here, the Lizardmen would have eaten them right away.
There should be human bones scattered around for that to make sense.
Yet there were none here.
‘Did they not eat them?’
Lizardmen were voracious eaters.
It bothered him that such creatures would have taken down humans but not eaten them on the spot.
‘If they didn’t eat them, then perhaps…’
Should he take that to mean they had stored food?
A certain suspicion flashed through Nam Gyu-il’s mind.
‘Did the boss monster give an order?!’
Within a Gate, there were monsters that commanded other monsters.
Those were called boss monsters.
Boss monsters protected the Core to maintain the Gate.
‘If the boss monster gave an order to store food, wouldn’t there be a possibility that the captured National Hunters are still alive?’
The first rule of storing food was maintaining freshness.
Therefore, there was a high probability they had kept the National Hunters alive.
Once butchered, decay began immediately, but if they only broke the limbs to prevent escape, freshness was maintained to some degree.
Nam Gyu-il’s expression hardened.
‘This might change from a monster extermination mission to rescuing the abducted Team 07.’
If they had to rescue National Hunters as well as exterminate monsters, the mission would become much more difficult.
Nam Gyu-il revealed his thoughts to all of Team 01.
Namely, that the National Hunters who had entered first might still be alive.
At his words, I Chan-u took on a grave expression.
“Then what should we do now?”
“If we break through head-on, the hostages might be in danger. We’ll lure the monsters away to scatter them, then rescue the hostages in that gap.”
Everyone paled at Nam Gyu-il’s proposal.
Though no one said it outright, that operation required someone to act as bait.
For a moment, silence hung in the air.
No one volunteered to be bait.
It was obvious why.
If something went wrong, the bait could be the first to die.
It was too dangerous.
When no one spoke for a while, Nam Gyu-il was about to take the bait role himself.
“I’ll….”
The moment he tried to speak.
Hong Sin-u raised his hand and shouted.
“Private Hong Sin-u! I will serve as bait.”
Nam Gyu-il opened his eyes wide.
It was a bit unexpected.
A rookie entering a Gate for the first time usually trembled too much to offer an opinion.
But what was he saying?
To volunteer for the most dangerous bait role—did he know what that meant?
Just in case, Nam Gyu-il explained the role of bait.
“The bait’s job is to lure the Lizardmen. It’s the most dangerous role, and you could die.”
“I’ll still do it, sir.”
“Why?”
“Because I have the weakest combat ability.”
“You figured you wouldn’t be of help in the fight?”
“That’s correct. And…”
“And?”
Hong Sin-u fidgeted, then continued.
“I believe Staff Sergeant Nam Gyu-il will save me if I’m in danger.”
Nam Gyu-il burst out laughing at the amusing answer.
To volunteer as bait trusting a superior he’d just met.
The kid was nuts, but his proactive attitude toward the operation was likable.
Nam Gyu-il patted Hong Sin-u’s shoulder.
“Alright, then I’ll explain the detailed plan. I won’t repeat myself. Everyone listen carefully.”
He explained the operation.
Some who listened to the details rubbed their pant legs nervously.
Others couldn’t contain their surprise, their mouths hanging open.
***
Nam Gyu-il and Team 01 moved to find the Lizardmen’s settlement.
After walking for about an hour,
“Shaaaack.”
They discovered the creatures’ settlement.
They hid in the bushes and assessed the situation.
The Lizardmen were sitting on the ground, resting.
Beside them, people with broken limbs were groaning, tied up in vines.
“Mmph mmph!!”
Their mouths were bound with vines as well, rendering them unable to speak.
Nam Gyu-il began by looking for the boss monster.
‘There it is.’
The boss monster here was a Lizardman Shaman.
It sat near the Core floating in mid-air, yawning away.
‘Its purpose must be to protect the Core.’
Nam Gyu-il judged as much.
In the midst of that, he discovered something very interesting.
‘Wait…’
Nam Gyu-il’s gaze fixed on the Lizardman Shaman’s tail.
‘That… a black tail?!’
Among Lizardmen, there were those that appeared with an extremely low probability of having a black tail.
Nam Gyu-il’s eyes turned cold and sharp.
‘A precious material I saw in the Akashic Records is right before my eyes.’
I Chan-u, seeing his expression, cautiously asked in a low voice.
“Gyu-il hyung? Is something wrong…?”
“It’s nothing. I’ve just found something good to treat myself with after a long time.”
“What?”