Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Gate Rampage (2)

"Damn it! When is the support coming!!"

Park Ji-hyeok, Team 1 leader of Ageil Guild, who had been assigned a B-rank gate, shouted. Of all things, the B-rank gate had rampaged, and Ageil Guild had no way to handle it.

"Team Leader. They said not to request Saebit Guild..."

"You bastard! We're all about to die, and that's the problem?!"

Park Ji-hyeok barked at the youngest, who had no sense for the moment, and glared at the gate, which had turned pure red.

Because of the rampage, there was no knowing what rank of monster would come out of there.

-Gwoong!

From inside the gate, the size of a three-story building, a vibrating sound came, something trying to force its way out. That alone.

"Uweeeek!!"

"Aa...!"

"Save me!!"

Low-rank hunters with little experience threw down their weapons and ran, or reached the point of fainting. Watching that, Park Ji-hyeok's face twisted.

"What am I supposed to do alone!!"

He wanted to run too, but he couldn't. A residential area not far from here. That was where Park Ji-hyeok had set up his newlywed home.

A wife like a bear, a child like a rabbit. For a precious family he wouldn't feel pain even putting in his eye, Park Ji-hyeok gripped his trembling knees and raised both eyes.

"I'll take at least one with me!!"

His legs went weak at the mighty presence felt beyond the gate, but Park Ji-hyeok did not loosen the hand gripping his weapon.

And then.

-Kiiiiik!!

With a chilling roar, the gate began to tear. There is only one case like this. Not simply the stage where the monsters inside come out.

"Of all things, a demon?!"

In a despair that felt like it would bring tears, the will to fight began to leave Park Ji-hyeok's eyes.

At present, no one can kill a demon. Not even an S-rank hunter.

Minimizing the damage during the time a demon manifests in this world was the best response available now.

-Kuuuung!!

As if a crack were opening in the world. From the gate as the center, things like hairline fractures began to spread like a spiderweb. And then.

-Crack!

With the sound of glass breaking, something appeared from inside the black gate.

[Kekeke!]

A human-shaped monster made of black. Something like a goat's horns had sprouted on its forehead. On its back hung something like a bat's wings.

And.

[Kikyakyak!!]

With a chilling laugh, it looked at Park Ji-hyeok with pure red eyes.

"Ah..."

The moment Park Ji-hyeok met the demon-type monster's eyes, he lost the will to fight. The family he had to protect. The instinct to live. He could not move his body.

A post he had seen long ago on a hunter community flashed through his mind.

Anon (136.11): Demons exist. If you run into one, kill yourself. That's the easiest death. Even S-rank can't beat a demon.

A catastrophic existence that lays waste to its surroundings the moment it appears. The fortunate point is that the time it can manifest in this world is limited.

And an S-rank hunter could at least bind a demon's feet.

Not that there was anything Park Ji-hyeok could do.

"God."

Even Park Ji-hyeok, who had no religion, had no choice but to call on a god, in that despair.

"Fall back!"

A black-haired angel, and.

"Aigoo. Just keeping your head against a demon is impressive. Take some pride in it."

Lee Si-u, looking as unbothered as if he had come out for a walk.

'Huh? Lee Si-u?'

Kim Seol-yeon's kept husband coming here meant.

"I'm saved!"

Even if only for a while, Kim Seol-yeon, rated as surpassing S-rank, was here too. Park Ji-hyeok wept and gave thanks to God.

"I wish!"

Kim Seol-yeon's special skill. The signature line of the White Night Ice Palace came. The instant he meant to feel relief at that.

"Huh?"

It was not Kim Seol-yeon's voice. When Park Ji-hyeok turned his head toward where the sound had come from, there.

'Saebit Guild's Kim Eun-ji?'

The unlucky hunter who had chosen the wrong company for her talent was there.

"Violet star sleeping beneath the abyss!"

With an incantation he was hearing for the first time.

"Show me what lies beyond the hidden boundary!"

Enormous mana began to whip around Kim Eun-ji. A sight that overlapped with Kim Seol-yeon's White Night Ice Palace, which he had seen once.

"I'm jealous."

Another hunter holding a special skill hard to find even searching the whole world had appeared.

"Shall we evacuate the ones who fainted together first?"

"Ah. Let's."

Lee Si-u was here, and Kim Seol-yeon was nowhere to be seen. Before he could even question that, Park Ji-hyeok took his colleagues and left the site.

Life matters more than curiosity.

**

Having moved out to the site, I set a satisfied smile on my mouth at Kim Eun-ji's movement.

A hunter I'll be with from here having outstanding talent is a glad thing.

"You're keeping up well?"

"...I practiced."

Leaving behind Kim Eun-ji, who had answered bluntly, whatever it was that displeased her, I ran quickly toward the site of the gate rampage.

I had given most of the experience to Kim Seol-yeon, but the mana that had settled in my body when I awakened was still with me, so basic body reinforcement was more than enough.

Anyway, it wasn't far from the office, so we reached the site sooner than I thought.

"Ugh."

At the uneasy presence felt even from a distance, my face twisted hard. This looks like a demon is about to come out?

"Nn...!"

Turning my head to the side, I saw Kim Eun-ji backing away, knees bent, as if fear had eaten into her. A natural sight for a new hire with little experience, but.

-Smack!

"Get a hold of yourself!"

I struck her back with all my strength and shouted. At that, Kim Eun-ji's expression changed in an instant.

"...Yes!"

Kim Eun-ji had come to her senses, but the danger had not gone. From the scene visible in the distance, it looked like all but one had run or fainted.

This can't be helped. Because of the trauma from Kim Seol-yeon, I hadn't wanted to use Polarity for a while.

Civilian damage worries me more than my own mental strain.

"Miss Kim Eun-ji. From now, I'll grant you a support skill."

"Yes!"

Even against the overwhelming presence felt from the gate, Kim Eun-ji's eyes were firm. At that sight, I raised a hand and stroked her head.

"You're doing well."

It was pitiful, and it was admirable, so my hand moved and stroked her head before I knew it.

She might dislike it, but a kid this young working this hard overlapped with my past, and my hand moved on its own.

"..."

I thought she would dislike it, but there was no particular reaction. Did she think it was part of the process for using the support skill? Then that's fine.

"Designate target. Kim Eun-ji."

I had to stop it before the damage from the demon grew. The best means for that was using Polarity.

-Ding!

A skill notification I was hearing after a long time. Then.

[Polarity (EX) target designated: Kim Eun-ji]

On the system window only I can see, the limit of the potential Kim Eun-ji holds is listed.

[Calculating Kim Eun-ji's current skills, latent ability, and future possibility, and deriving the highest realm.]

It calculates every ability Kim Eun-ji holds and infers the transcendent realm she will one day reach. And so.

[The transcendent realm Kim Eun-ji will reach. There are three choices.]

Ten years ago, as I had chosen in the middle of a gate rampage with Kim Seol-yeon. This time I choose the transcendent realm Kim Eun-ji will reach in the future.

Several kinds of realms spread before me. What was needed most in this situation.

"Violet Heavenly Eye."

-Ding!

[Polarity activated. Granting an ungraded skill to Kim Eun-ji.]

"Listen well."

"Yes...?"

The eyes of Kim Eun-ji, who had been watching me talk to myself until now, were slightly unfocused. A new skill must have been granted to her just now.

"To use the skill you've been given, you have to shout the signature line. If you set your mind on using the skill, it will rise in your head."

"...Yes!"

Little by little the crack in the gate grew huge, and the demon's presence, trapped inside, was reaching out into the real world. Little time was left, so we moved to the site quickly.

"The effective time isn't long! It'll be about the same as the time a demon can exist in this world! Don't try to finish it, just buy time!"

"Understood!"

Then, arriving at the site, I headed for the only hunter still remaining, and.

[Kekeke!]

The demon that had crawled into this world, Kim Eun-ji took.

"I wish!"

That line is the same. It was my first time using Polarity on someone else, so I hadn't known either.

"Violet star sleeping beneath the abyss. Show me what lies beyond the hidden boundary!"

As if declaring it to the world. The moment the signature line announcing her own possibility came through her mouth.

-Kwaaaang!

The pressure of the mana wrapping Kim Eun-ji began to rise without end.

Then violet mana seemed to wrap around her, and soon gathered into her eyes.

To face a demon, you either crush it with instantaneous firepower, or.

[Kekeke!]

You have to be able to see through the essence of a demon, built on laws different from this world. That was why I chose the Violet Heavenly Eye.

Then Kim Eun-ji's hand took a strange movement.

From above to below.

-Kwaaaang!!

At her single strike, which pulverized the demon and even the gate behind it, cold sweat beaded on the back of my neck.

'Why is she this strong?'

When I used it on Kim Seol-yeon, it wasn't to this extent.