Jason grabbed Jin-Woo and helped him stabilize himself.
When Jin-Woo opened his eyes, he saw a wintery forest, completely covered in white snow.
"What is this place?!"
"This doesn't look like the interior of a dungeon, does it?!"
"Hey, look! The Gate's disappeared, too!"
Other Hunters were looking around in confusion, unable to hide their panic as well.
While they were getting more and more flustered, Jin-Woo calmed himself down and turned to Jason who slowly nodded his head.
They both then turned toward their surroundings and scanned around for any possible danger.
Han Song-Yi approached them and began tugging at Jin-Woo's coat in the meantime.
"Uhm, excuse me… something bad happened just now, right?"
She looked really scared. Her previous self-confidence was nowhere to be found.
But then…
Jin-Woo's hand suddenly shot out toward Han Song-Yi's face.
'...?!'
Han Song-Yi's eyes opened super wide.
*Grab!*
The arrow caught in Jin-Woo's hand trembled continuously.
"Ahh?! Ah…!"
Finally realizing what just happened, her face paled in an instant. However, the expected scream came from somewhere else.
"Kyaaaahhk!!"
"Uwa, uwaaahk!!"
*Plop!*
A male Hunter fell to the snowy ground with blood bubbling out of his mouth, an arrow lodged deep in his temple.
The snowy ground was soon dyed in his blood.
"Euh, euh…."
Almost all the hunters began gasping in shock.
"Over there!"
"It's those bastards!!"
One of the rank B Hunters pointed towards the top of a tree located far away.
But, even before he had begun pointing his finger, both the gazes of Jin-Woo and Kim Chul were fixed there.
They could see two lifeforms standing over there, on the snow-covered branches.
But nobody realized that Jaso was already staring at them even before the arrows were shot.
'So, they appeared, huh? The Ice Slayers or Ice Elves! No there is a better name than that... Hyakkis!'
'….They are laughing at us, huh.'
The two archers had lowered their bows and disgusting smiles were clearly visible on their faces. It was as if they were staring at a table full of delicacies and couldn't decide which one to start eating.
The cheap tactic of the White Phantoms certainly managed to bring out JinWoo's ire. He raised the caught arrow so the creatures could see, and broke it in half.
*Crack!*
Perhaps taking that as a challenge, the White Phantom who shot that arrow pointed at Jin-Woo and drew a line under his chin.
Seeing that, Jin-Woo simply smirked. However, his eyes were definitely not laughing.
'….I'll kill you with my own hands.'
Receiving the trivial provocation of the monster, Jin-Woo simply glared coldly at his reply.
Soon, the pair of White Phantoms disappeared below the tree.
"Looks like this is their way of welcoming us."
Finally, Kim Chul opened his mouth.
The lone rank A of the group opened his mouth, prompting everyone to focus their gazes on him as if they had agreed before coming here.
Actually, he was the leader of this raid team, so that might have been it, though.
"I'm sure some of you have realized it by now. This is inside the Red Gate."
While he was explaining about the red gate, Jin-Woo, and Jason were chatting.
"Hyun-nim, it seems our plan failed."
"No, it's even better now. This place is very good for you to level up a bunch."
"Huh?" Jin-Woo was taken aback but soon realized the meaning of his words.
As they finished their chatter, they heard Kim Chul's cold voice.
"Excluding you."
"Excuse me?"
"And also, you, you, you, and you."
Kim Cheol pointed to a few more others, including Jin-Woo, Han Song-Yi, and Jason.
Even if Kim Chul had asked Jason, he wasn't going to join him anyway.
"Excuse me."
A rank B female Hunter from Kim Chul's group raised her hand. Kim Chul turned to look at her, and she pointed at Jin-Woo.
"It's fine to go over there from here, right?"
"….Do what you want."
She didn't even look back once and walked straight to Jin-Woo's side.
Kim Chul alternated his gaze between the woman and Jin-Woo, and smirked derisively, before declaring out loudly.
"We've got an opening this side, so I'll accept one more person!"
"Me, me!!"
One of the C-ranks quickly joins his team, fearing that the lone rank A in the group, and the leader, might change his mind.
Jin-Woo stared at the woman now standing next to him with a puzzled expression on his face. Her gaze met with Jin-Woo's, and she whispered in a low voice so no one else could hear.
"That man Kim Chul? Well, he couldn't see the arrow flying in, you see."
"So, what are you saying?"
Then, the woman smiled refreshingly.
"I'm guessing you're not a rank E. Am I right?"...
Jason heard the conversation and smiled. He then saw Kim Chul approaching their group.
"We will…."
Kim Chul's voice was harsh and low. Didn't matter what he was trying to convey here, he sounded threatening and menacing.
"….Be using the road."
He didn't saunter over here just to declare which path they would be using, though. No, Kim Cheol's eyes were asking what their group would do. Along with the hidden threat of 'Don't you dare follow us'.
Before Jin-Woo could answer, Jason pointed toward the forest and said.
"We will be going through the forest."
"…I'll wish you luck."
"Yeah, you too."
With that Jason took the lead and entered the forest, quickly followed by Jin-Woo and others.
Jin-Woo and Jason walked to the front of the group.
But before long, Park Hee-Jin stood in front of them.
"What is it?"
"Have you lost your mind?"
Jin-Woo crossed his arms and displayed how unhappy he was to hear that.
Meaning, she'd have to be careful with her follow-up. Jason only looked at her with a smile.
Perhaps she understood Jin-Woo's warning, Park Hee-Jin's voice had softened somewhat.
"I'm sorry. But I need to say this."
Park Hee-Jin's finger pointed toward one of the surrounding trees.
"Can you see that?"
There was a huge claw mark on the tree's bark.
"Over there, too! And there!"
Almost every single tree had its barks greatly damaged and it was hard to find one that was still intact.
"This entire place is full of the bear's territorial markings, you know?! This entire forest is the bear-type monster's habitat!"
Of course, Park Hee-Jin would get angry.
"We need to go back right now! Before the monsters show up!"
"Tsk, tsk."
Jin-Woo clicked his tongue.
Park Hee-Jin's face reddened up from anger.
"W-what is it?"
Her voice rose up again.
Jin-Woo spat out a long sigh and opened his mouth.
"It's difficult to find a tree without the territorial markings, which means that there are more than one or two Ice Bears here, yes?"
"T-that is why we much go ba….."
"That is precisely why we're moving through the forest."
"Eh?"
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