章 28: Ice Elves
"A Red Gate?! Just what on earth is going on here!!"
The CEO of the White Tiger Guild, Baek Yun-Ho, ran straight to the Gate's location as soon as he received the urgent call.
The complexion of Hyun Ki-Cheol could only be described as ashen.
"Well, sir….."
"I'm going to see for myself first."
Baek Yun-Ho walked past the Guild employees who looked like they were in the middle of a funeral.
'It really is a Red Gate!!'
Baek Yun-Ho's own complexion hardened instantly after checking out the Gate's colour.
Once the Gate changed its colour to red, all external influences would be completely cut off. Escaping from it, and trying to enter it – both of these activities were now impossible.
Baek Yun-Ho pressed his hand against the Gate's surface. As he thought, it was hard, impossible to enter.
'God d*mn it.'
From here onwards, there was no way to lend aid to those trapped inside.
Baek Yun-Ho asked Hyun Ki-Cheol.
"I thought this was supposed to be a rank C Gate?"
"Sir, it was a rank C."
"Did you call the Association to confirm it?"
"Yes, sir. However….. The Association is insisting that it's still a rank C Gate…."
"Those god damn sons of bitches!!"
Baek Yun-Ho angrily cussed out.
A Red Gate would only occur when the dungeon itself was ranked very high, to begin with.
There was a whole new world on the other side of the Gate, yet the leaking magical energy only equalled that of a rank C dungeon? That crap wouldn't fly anywhere.
Even from a casual glance, he could tell this thing should've been ranked B, at the bare minimum. If unlucky, rank A. Or worse, something even higher than that.
However, the only reason why the Association still had the audacity to insist they were not wrong?
"Sir, should we use our own equipment to measure the magic energy?"
When Hyun Ki-Cheol asked him, Baek Yun-Ho shook his head.
"No magic energy leaks out from a Red Gate, so it's impossible to measure it now."
….Because, it would be almost impossible to take another measurement, that was why.
There was no concrete way to find out what the problematic Gate's actual rank was at this point in time.
And besides, the rank of this damn Gate wasn't important anymore.
"How many of our people went in there?"
"Total of 14, sir."
"Wasn't it supposed to be 12?"
"....Sir before the connection could be broken; two kids less than 15 years old entered through the Gate. We don't know their current location, sir."
"WHAT KID?! grrrrrrrrrrr..."
"Sir..."
"How many are high ranked Hunters?"
"As the leader, rank A Kim Cheol Hunter-nim, and there are also seven rank B Hunters, as well."
"One rank A and seven ranks Bs…."
"The kids…. Will they be alright?"
Baek Yun-Ho slowly shook his head.
"We don't have a choice but to think of them as all KIA. If lucky, the rank A, and two, three rank Bs might make out alive."
Only if they had the Devil's luck.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jin-Woo couldn't help but get flustered here.
'Could this be the Gate that supposedly takes you to another world?'
It'd be his first time experiencing one, but he had read all about it online, from the testimonies of those who managed to survive it. And they all said the same thing – that it felt like they were being sucked in.
Jin-Woo had to agree with that assessment, too.
As soon as the Gate sucked him in, deep darkness swallowed him, and a little while later, he felt like he was being slid across something slick and smooth.
'Heok!'
When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of 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!"
Gil: "Cool place."
Izayoi: "Hopefully we will get more action this time."
"Hey, there are kids here."
Jin-Woo was surprised to see the Kids, he looked at them and asked, "Who are you both? How did you enter here?"
Izayoi: "From the Gate by snuck passing the guards."
Jin-Woo looked at their eyes. Crimson and violet eyes, they were definitely not normal, maybe they were awakened.
Rank A Hunter Kim Cheol looked at them and shouted, "More fucking trouble!"
Jin-Woo: "Stop.", Jin-Woo shot up his hand.
Grab!
The arrow caught in Jin-Woo's hand trembled continuously as if it lamented missing its target.
Gil: "We got archers."
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…."
Hunters began gasping out in shock.
Two arrows flew in at the same time, one aimed at Hahn Song-Yi, while the other one hit its mark. Because of that, though – no one saw Jin-Woo catching the other arrow.
"Over there!"
"It's those b*stards!!"
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 Cheol were fixed there.
They could see two lifeforms standing over there, on the snow-covered branches.
'Two people? No, I should say, two creatures, huh.'
Long white hair, icy-white skin, and silver eyes. And the race-specific trait of pointy ears.
These 'monsters' were famed for their particularly beautiful countenances, as well as for their rarity, as they could only be encountered in high ranked dungeons.
'Ice Elves.'
Those who had never encountered one referred to them as Ice Elves, but the Hunters who did encounter them and fought with them, all took to calling them White Phantoms, instead. While also adding that a pretty name like 'Elf' shouldn't be mixed together with these abominable creatures.
Gil smirked and said, "Our future victims have appeared."
The Elves didn't shoot bluntly. They shot the ones, who they deemed weak and not attentive. But they were immediately got wary that this situation is not going to be easy. One of the arrows was directed toward Gil, but was disintegrated before it could reach him.
Soon, the pair of White Phantoms disappeared below the tree.
"Looks like this is their way of welcoming us."
Finally, Kim Cheol 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 made an agreement prior to 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 realised it by now. This is inside the Red Gate."
Kim Cheol spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the whole world. Of course, no one complained about that.
"Which means, no one will be able to enter here after us, until either we all die, or there is a dungeon break."
The group all gasped out softly.
"M-mm…."
"Euh…."
The fact that they could no longer hope for rescue came across as a big mental shock.
Meanwhile, Kim Cheol continued on.
"If we remain here, we'll all die from this freezing cold, or from those bastards ambushing us. However, I'm going to clear this place and get out of here, by myself if necessary. Are there any of you who wish to join me?"
Kim Cheol's powerful, confident stare and his broad shoulders imparted a certain sense of trust.
Hunters glanced at each other for a bit, before unanimously voicing their desire to travel together with him.
"Let us move together."
"I'd like to join you."
"Let's go back together, alive."
"I want to help, too!"
Gil: "Izayoi let's leave these mongrels."
Izayoi: "Let's go for the boss."
クリエイターの想い 
Believexthat
Believexthat another one.
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット