Chapter 90

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]

Chapter 90: Ant Hell (2)

Someone was waiting at the mansion for a reason. From the moment the unfamiliar face appeared, the shadows were already moving.

They trailed the guy and could witness his attempt to enter the B-rank gate.

The Incheon Demon Gate.

The raid’s difficulty was 80 points.

Even B-rank Awakened went in groups, but this guy was trying to enter alone.

It must mean he’s that confident.

‘Kim Minwoo….’

Han Baekgil narrowed his eyes.

They had been able to pursue him without any hindrance so far. If they entered now, the forced entry would likely succeed smoothly.

Therefore, they could only smirk at the situation.

Too easy.

Almost too easy.

‘It must be one of two things.’

Was he just nonchalantly considering barging in?

If not, then…

‘Was it intentional?’

Han Baekgil glanced around.

From One to Seven.

Everyone’s eyes were shining.

“Boss, are we going in?”

They were prepared to sacrifice at least half of their members to catch Kim Min-woo.

But the situation was resolved incredibly easily.

He’s going in disguised?

It’s like he’s advertising himself to be eaten. They couldn’t help but get impatient, as they didn’t know when another opportunity like this would come. Han Baekgil, who was suspicious, was also the same.

So is he not going in?

No.

He has to go in eventually.

Didn’t he already decide to take the bastard down? Backing out here would be the worst move.

“…If he enters, we’ll follow right away.”

Everyone nodded.

The assassins used stealth skills, while those who weren’t assassins hid their appearance using magic or items from the treasure vault.

Approaching the gate.

Two B-rank Awakened and one A-rank Awakened were guarding the entrance, but it was pointless.

[Using Sensory Disruption (S)!]

[Using Dream Breath (S)!]

[Using Warm Oblivion (S)!]

.

.

.

The Awakened were overwhelmed by the skills unleashed by the S-class Awakened, their senses muddled, their memories fading, and their eyes glazed over

For a moment, they stood like wooden dolls. It would take a few minutes for them to regain their senses, and then they would resume their guard duty without noticing anything amiss.

The nearby soldiers were also similarly lethargic.

[Party status confirmed!]

[Han Baekgil and 18 others enter B-rank gate, the Demon’s Castle!]

[Forced entry confirmed!]

[Party members’ locations are all scrambled!]

Although they entered as a party, due to the forced entry, a penalty was applied.

Everyone’s positions were divided.

Still, it didn’t matter.

Han Baekgil took out a crystal orb.

[‘Eye of Darkness’ indicates the positions of party members!]

A unique-rank item.

It was one of the items he had received through prayer in the past. He wasn’t the only one who had it. The other 19 party members all had it as well.

It was incredibly useful as it allowed them to know the party’s positions even inside the gate.

Especially in a situation like forced entry, it was even more invaluable.

What was even more impressive was that besides indicating positions, it could also display the colors of key party members.

Han Baekgil’s was a somber black.

One to Seven, along with the two new S-rank additions, were shown in red.

The rest of the trainees were blue.

A variety of colors filled the surface of the crystal orb. The members of the shadows had already coordinated beforehand.

They were to gather around Han Baekgil.

Before long, one by one, the companions began to join around him.

At that moment.

Flick!

A blue light on the crystal orb suddenly vanished.

‘…Are they dead?’

The fact that the light flickered out meant that someone had died. One of the trainees had met an untimely death.

Shortly after.

Flick!

Flick!

Flick!

Flick!

The blue lights that were a little further away began to go out rapidly.

As this happened, the movement speed of the remaining lights increased.

The party members who had gathered hastily stared blankly at the crystal ball.

“Damn it.”

“What kind of speed is this?”

“This guy’s a total monster, isn’t he?”

Even the awakeners who came from Japan and China wore the same frozen expressions. They were also aware of Kim Minwoo. He had made quite a name for himself overseas with his exploits.

However.

They hadn’t anticipated this hunt to be so challenging.

They had even thought the Korean branch was making too much fuss.

The Korean branch alone had eight S-rank awakeners participating in the hunt.

Moreover, these were individuals with much higher levels than the average S-rank, given their rapid leveling up.

Compared to them, Kim Minwoo’s level would probably be around 200 at best.

Level was the backbone of combat.

It wasn’t unreasonable to think that reacting too sensitively to a fight that seemed easy to overwhelm was unnecessary.

But…

‘Shit.’

‘This isn’t going to be easy, is it?’

Only one person managed to kill five trainees.

And these trainees even had items related to stealth.

‘No, a necromancer?’

What in the world was he using to kill all these stealth-oriented trainees?

Outside, even fairly skilled A-rank awakeners died in just a few seconds.

Considering that the Demon’s Castle was a relatively small gate, the speed at which they perished was unreasonable.

It wasn’t until six trainees had died that the entire party was able to gather in one place.

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]

From 19 to 13 members.

Half of them had died before they could even properly begin.

“……I’ll kill him. Without fail.”

Han Baekgil gritted his teeth and spoke.

The atmosphere became heavy.

The now solemn group began to move to find Kim Min-woo.

* * *

He killed the six hiding individuals.

Land of Death.

This skill was the nemesis of those who used stealth. Normally, stealth is broken when you take damage. This was true even for S-rank stealth. It would only break after you took a certain amount of damage.

But what about the Land of Death?

It was a wide-range AoE skill.

Given the small stage of the gate, as soon as he was summoned, he scattered the skeletal horde in all directions and activated ‘Land of Death’.

Every time he used it, two or three people would fall.

Of course, it affected the demon-type monsters residing in this gate as well.

[The effect of ‘The One Who Took Balkan’s Eye’ is activated!]

[The demons feel a strong sense of intimidation!]

[They dare not rush in!]

It seemed that the prickling damage wasn’t enough to overcome the oppression, and instead of attacking, they were running away in all directions. They would probably only attack if he dealt much more damage.

In addition to the countless skeletons, Kim Minwoo also had another scout.

Whitey.

This clever girl was high-speed and stealthy, and even intelligent enough to communicate with each other. It was a breeze for her to find prey.

Then it was Merhen’s turn to shine.

When asked if he had any magic to trip up the enemies, he conjured something up on the spot.

[Water Prison (S) is activated!]

[Bonds of the Earth (S) is activated!]

The guys who were desperately trying to escape had their feet trapped in the sunken ground and were struggling in the water prison that was created in the air. As B-class to A-class Awakened, they didn’t die from one spell.

They bought time by using their skills in their own way and flailing around in panic.

‘Still, though.’

As soon as Cedric and he approached, it was game over. They couldn’t even properly divide the aggro before their necks were sliced off in a picturesque combo. Each time he killed one, his level went up by at least one.

It was an immense amount of experience points.

Thanks to that, his current level was 188.

He had gained a whopping 8 levels in just a short hunt. If he had killed monsters, he would have had to kill much more than that for his level to go up.

After hunting for a while,

He entered the reception room inside the castle. After killing all the demons inside, he closed the door.

‘That’s why I like the Demon’s Castle.’

Even the name of the map is a castle.

Of course, there are many rooms inside the castle.

It’s a structure that is not easily surrounded like an open plain and difficult to ambush.

This is because once you close the door in a room, there’s no way for assassins to sneak in.

In particular, the reception room was close to a perfect open space with not a single window.

‘There’s only one entrance, the main gate.’

To enter, you had to either break the door or grab the doorknob to open it.

Assassins don’t have skills like spatial movement or crossing walls.

There are for mages, but coming in alone through spatial movement is just asking to be killed.

‘They’ll usually just open the door.’

There are a total of seven reception rooms generated inside the castle. If they break them all down one by one because it’s dangerous, they won’t have any mana left.

This is because the doors are quite sturdy.

He thought that Han Baek-gil’s party would probably just open the door and check inside.

‘Now there are only four left.’

He thought about the activation conditions for Hidden Piece. One person kills a total of ten people. It’s a condition that’s easy if it’s easy and difficult if it’s difficult. But it’s hard to activate in general.

‘It was a Hidden Piece that was still around years later.’

For one thing, the gate is B-grade.

The level of the Awakened who come in is high.

Veterans who’ve been rolling around in the Awakened world.

Moreover, since there is a limit to solo play, most of them are guilds or circles formed by friends.

In other words, it’s a gate where groups of experienced players who work well together move around. Even if you’re an S-rank assassin, it’s quite burdensome to intrude alone.

You need at least two or three people to move together, and then you usually can’t get 10 kills.

Because they share the kills with each other.

But betraying from within?

‘They’ll get caught in the investigation.’

Saying you got 10 kills usually means you killed everyone and came out alive. Do you think they’ll think you just got lucky and survived on your own?

Awakened are not that naive.

Naturally, investigations will follow.

As there are numerous professions in gate hunting, there are also many awakened individuals with various skills.

Sooner or later, they will get caught during the investigation.

And if caught?

It’s the end of their life.

Even if they were a hero inside the gate, society is vast and the law is wide. Once you reach B-rank, there are hardly any who would risk their lives just to make a small fortune. That’s why this condition remained intact.

‘I didn’t know the activation condition either.’

Until he took down all the assassins who came in here, he had no idea. It wasn’t until he accidentally got caught once and learned the condition.

If it’s about taking down the remaining thirteen, that might be unknown. But taking down four out of them?

‘Easy.’

Especially if there are weaklings scattered around like the ones he killed earlier, it’s much easier.

After swallowing a mana potion,

He looked at Merhen and Cedric.

“Get ready.”

Both commanders nodded.

It had been a while since Dolsae, Skull, and Specter units finished their battle preparations.

[Merhen begins to command all the mages!]

[One hundred mages attempt to ‘construct a magic circle’!]

[Success!]

[A medium-sized magic circle has been completed!]

[Four hundred mages begin to gather ‘Corpse Explosion’ into the magic circle!]

[Merhen begins to gather mana!]

They scattered the demons’ corpses all over in front of the door.

Once the door opens and they show their faces, it’ll start with a slap on the cheek.

Soon after,

Boom.

The door to the reception room opened.

Between the open doors, there’s probably just one awakened individual at most. They were likely chosen to open the door as sacrificial lambs.

It’s futile.

We already expected that much.

[Casting ‘Land of Death (S)’!]

[All allied undead’s abilities increase by 20%!]

[Merhen casts ‘Cyclone (SS)’!]

Check out the taste of SS-rank magic.

A tremendous wind began to sweep outside the door.

Swooosh!

In an instant, the door sucked in everything like a vacuum cleaner.

“Huh?”

“What the hell!”

The Awakened were dragged in by the wind pressure.

[Corpse Explosion magic is activated!]

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Towards the Awakened who were sucked in front of the door, the stored demon corpses began to explode wildly.

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]