Chapter 202: Gate Boss (2)

There were two DG Guild members among the Hunters assigned to Team One, the squad tasked with subduing the First. Leading the pair was Jeong Man-Kook, drafted for his Calorie Buff. His teammate, Kang Seh-Hyuk, normally relied on Mana Defense, but because mana was useless against this foe, he was selected for his secondary skill, Shout of the Vanguard.

The Fire Elementalist, Lee Ji-Yeon, was also participating in this Gate raid, along with two other members of The Five Siblings of Mapogu, Yoo Seh-Eun and Nam Dong-Wook. Including the Hunters assigned as reserves for this Gate raid, there were actually more than ten DG Guild members involved in the operation.

"Hmph!" Jeong Man-Kook grunted as he slammed a cable into the wall with a swing of his giant hammer.

He had been placed on Team One because of the immense physical stats granted by Calorie Buff. Attacks using mana wouldn't work on an enemy like the First, so it was only natural to assign a Hunter with such high physical stats to the team responsible for taking it down.

After Jeong Man-Kook finished completely destroying thirty-five percent of the First's cables, the remaining cables sprang into action. One dropped down at him from above, another slithered over the ground toward him, and a third flew through the air, aiming straight for his head before suddenly curving diagonally as it drew close. The final cable, moving faster than the others, shot at him from directly behind.

No matter how high his stats, blocking such a combination of attacks would be difficult. However, Jeong Man-Kook didn't panic or despair. He pulled a giant shield from his subspace pocket and deflected both the cable coming at him diagonally and the one falling from above.

Though two cables were still attacking him unchecked, he wasn't fighting alone. Kang Seh-Hyuk used a Blink-enchanted artifact to teleport behind Jeong Man-Kook and immediately deflected the cable about to pierce his back, leaving only the crawling cable to deal with.

At that moment, Team Leader Ji Seok-Hyun suddenly appeared, having used the same artifact as Kang Seh-Hyuk, arriving just in time to deflect the last cable.

"Man-Kook!" Kang Seh-Hyuk shouted, confirming they had blocked all four cables attacking his teammate.

Jeong Man-Kook reacted by discarding his shield and picking up the hammer he'd let fall to the ground earlier. The hammer was designed with only weight in mind, making it so large and heavy that even most S-Class Hunters would hesitate to use it. However, he easily lifted it with one hand and immediately demonstrated his strength by crushing one of the cables that had attacked him with a heavy swing.

"Are you alright?" Ji Seok-Hyun asked, quickly interfering with another cable that tried to withdraw.

Jeong Man-Kook swung his hammer again, crushing the cable before it could escape, and bluntly replied, "Yes."

"

Haaah! Haaah!

"

The battle was far from over. The First was not only strong and fast—alarmingly so, given its sheer size—but also dangerously intelligent. As a monster equipped with artificial intelligence and capable of independent thought, it could set traps that even seasoned Hunters struggled to avoid. Worse still, it often baited them with fake vulnerabilities, drawing them into ambushes designed to exploit their assumptions.

Ishimura Ken, standing atop one of the cables as he carefully observed the First, slowly rolled up his sleeves and muttered to himself, "Twenty minutes..."

It had already been that long since the battle began.

He shook his head, correcting himself. "No, should I have started counting from when we first arrived outside this room?"

So far, twenty-five cables had been destroyed. The First appeared able to control up to thirty-five cables at once, and whenever one was destroyed, another would emerge from the walls to attack the Hunters.

Struck by a cable, one Hunter was thrown backward, but managed to land on the cable where Ishimura was standing.

"Team Leader, should we keep going like this?" the Hunter asked, turning his head.

If they could just destroy the core at the center of its chest, that would be enough to kill... or rather, deactivate the First. That was why all the Hunters had been aiming for the monster's chest since the battle began.

"Let's change tacks," Ishimura decided. "Prioritize destroying its limbs and these cables."

For the past twenty minutes, they had focused on attacking the monster's chest, but all their efforts had failed. The combination of huge cables extending from the walls and the sharpened cables protruding from its shoulders was proving extremely effective at keeping the Hunters at bay.

Once Ishimura finished explaining their new strategy, the S-Class Hunter nodded and leaped away. Rather than going after the First, they bolted toward the cable where the nearest Hunter stood to pass on the change of plans.

Meanwhile, Ishimura Ken took a deep breath, dropped into a stance, and waited for the perfect moment to strike. The instant the First controlled a nearby cable and swung it at him, he drew his katana and sliced cleanly through the approaching cable.

Yoo Seh-Eun and Lee Ji-Yeon watched warily as the Aberrant Mechanical Monster collapsed onto its side. Just ten minutes earlier, it had pulled the same trick, freezing mid-fight as if something vital had failed and toppling over. The moment the Hunters let their guard down, it had sprung back to life and ambushed them.

As the wait dragged on, the two of them kept their eyes on the corpse in tense silence. Superstition or not, neither dared speak first and risk jinxing it. No one wanted to tempt fate at this juncture.

Eventually, Yoo Seh-Eun let her shoulders slump in relief and sighed. "

Haaaah!

It's finally over."

With that out of her system, she straightened and cautiously approached the fallen Aberrant Mechanical Monster, poking it with her sword.

"Unnie, wait a moment," Lee Ji-Yeon called out.

Yoo Seh-Eun glanced back, puzzled. "Hm?"

After catching up, Lee Ji-Yeon swung her sword down at the corpse with full force, slicing cleanly through one of the monster's legs. She didn't stop, hacking away until every leg lay in pieces. Still unsatisfied, she circled the body, then brought her sword down one final time, severing the head from the neck.

"It seems like it really is done for," Lee Ji-Yeon concluded.

"

Phew!

It was a tough bastard," Yoo Seh-Eun complained as she plopped down on the floor.

If this had been a fight against an ordinary monster, Lee Ji-Yeon would never have let herself rest after just one confirmed kill. But since they had faced such a powerful Aberrant Mechanical Monster, even she needed to sit down and catch her breath.

"Ji-Yeon, let's rest for five minutes before we get back to work."

"Alright. Five minutes should be enough before we have to move again. Everyone, take this chance to rest," Lee Ji-Yeon said to the A-Class Hunters who had assisted them, then sat down beside Yoo Seh-Eun.

"Ji-Yeon, how many hours has it been since we entered this keep?"

"One hour and thirty-two minutes."

"So we spent an hour in here before we ran into this mid-boss."

They couldn't see anything from here because of the walls, but when Yoo Seh-Eun turned her head in the direction of the First, Lee Ji-Yeon did the same.

It was about an hour ago that they first started feeling the aftershocks of the first team clashing against the First. Even accounting for the distance between their location and the ongoing battle, the margin of error was only about five minutes.

"Dozens of S-Class Hunters are attacking a single monster, and they're still fighting," Yoo Seh-Eun observed, concern in her voice.

"Five minutes..." Lee Ji-Yeon sighed. "Let's rest exactly five minutes, then head over right away."

"Alright," Yoo Seh-Eun agreed with a firm nod.

After a short break, Lee Ji-Yeon and Yoo Seh-Eun's team set off again. Their pace was slow because they couldn't leave their injured teammates unguarded behind enemy lines, but fortunately, they encountered no danger.

The risk of running into another mid-boss still remained. However, like Yoo Seh-Eun and Lee Ji-Yeon, other S-Class and A-Class Hunters from Team Two had also been deployed by Kim Ki-Rok to handle mid-bosses. That meant they wouldn't have to face one alone. In fact, they'd likely end up assisting others in their fights, helping to speed up the subjugation effort overall.

As they headed deeper into the keep, Lee Ji-Yeon and Yoo Seh-Eun encountered other Hunters from Team Two, members of a group they recognized as having split off to handle another mid-boss. Their team slowed to a stop, waiting for the others to approach.

A foreign Hunter running ahead of the group stopped in front of Lee Ji-Yeon and Yoo Seh-Eun and greeted them politely. "Ah. It's good to see you all safe and sound."

"Oh, um, same to you. But why are you heading this way?" Lee Ji-Yeon asked, sounding confused.

If that group had already defeated their assigned mid-boss, they should have been moving inward to support Team One, not heading outward and away from the First.

"We're the makeshift team in charge of transporting the wounded," the foreign Hunter explained. "I've been running ahead as reconnaissance, but the others will catch up soon."

He stepped aside, giving Lee Ji-Yeon and Yoo Seh-Eun a clear view of the corridor, where they saw the rest of the group slowly approaching. Their fellow Team Two Hunters advanced cautiously, watching all directions. The group moved in a protective circle, with healthy Hunters on the perimeter and wounded ones carefully shielded in the center.

As one of the Hunters made eye contact with Yoo Seh-Eun and quickly approached, she greeted him politely. "Congrats on defeating your mid-boss."

The new Hunter nodded in return. "Same to you. We're transporting the seriously injured Hunters back to safety. Those with lighter injuries were able to use potions, spells, and skills to heal and are now moving forward, following the tracks left by Team One and the rest of Team Two."

"Thanks for the update. Would you mind taking our injured members as well?" Yoo Seh-Eun asked, stepping aside to reveal the wounded Hunters in her group who could only stand with support.

"Of course," he agreed. "But since the number of casualties has increased, we'll need at least three more Hunters to help escort the injured back to safety."

Yoo Seh-Eun nodded and addressed her group. "The First will be even stronger than any of the mid-bosses. Even after an hour, Team One, made up of the highest-level S-Class Hunters, is still fighting it. There's no shame in joining the escort team. Who wants to help get our wounded to safety?"

She finished with a soft smile, hoping to ease any guilt from those choosing to withdraw. After exchanging a few awkward glances, some Hunters raised their hands and volunteered for the escort team.

Once everyone made their decision, Yoo Seh-Eun quickly got moving again. Team One was still fighting hard to bring down the First, and Team Three was surely struggling to prevent reinforcements from entering the keep.

After leaving their wounded with the escort team, Yoo Seh-Eun and the others moved deeper into the keep. With no injured slowing them down, they advanced quickly, regrouping with the remaining Team Two members and pressing forward as one. The moment she caught the faint, distinct sound of metal clashing in the distance, her weapon was already drawn.

"The battle is still going on up ahead. We need to move faster," Yoo Seh-Eun ordered.

"Alright," Lee Ji-Yeon replied for all the remaining Team Two Hunters.

As they drew closer, the sounds grew louder. In the distance, they saw the small figure of a Hunter fending off a group of mechanical monsters.

"Hm?" Yoo Seh-Eun blinked in surprise.

She recognized Kim Ki-Rok, standing before a huge set of doors and blocking the mechanical monsters like a gatekeeper. His upper armor was shattered, and he was drinking a potion while bleeding heavily from multiple wounds.

"Geez," Yoo Seh-Eun muttered.

She boosted her physical stats and enhanced her muscle elasticity for extra speed, quickly pulling ahead of the others. In a flash, she charged in and struck one of the Humanoids attacking Kim Ki-Rok from behind.

Its arm severed, the Humanoid turned away from the panting Hunter in front of it to face the new threat. But Yoo Seh-Eun wasn't the only one who had rushed in at the sight of Kim Ki-Rok's injuries. From the opposite side, Lee Ji-Yeon appeared and took its head. Already weakened from the fight, the Humanoid collapsed, its arm and head now lying separate from its body.

After subduing the Humanoid in just two attacks, Yoo Seh-Eun and Lee Ji-Yeon moved on to the next foe. Together, they cut down every Humanoid and Animaloid in their path until they finally reached Kim Ki-Rok.

They both asked at the same time, "What's going on?"

"You have Guardian equipped, right? Why are you so injured?" Lee Ji-Yeon added.

"While I have it equipped, I haven't activated its skill," Kim Ki-Rok explained.

"Why not?" Lee Ji-Yeon protested.

Kim Ki-Rok shrugged. "It couldn't be helped. The First hasn't been defeated yet, so I have to save it just in case."

"Is it behind those doors?" Yoo Seh-Eun asked, gesturing at the huge doors behind him.

"That's right. Team One and the First are right behind these doors," Kim Ki-Rok confirmed, pulling out another potion.

As he drank, he looked over the Hunters Lee Ji-Yeon and Yoo Seh-Eun had brought with them.

"Let's see now."

The Hunters he had personally assigned to Lee Ji-Yeon and Yoo Seh-Eun, along with the other Team Two members who joined on the way, were now fighting the remaining mechanical monsters in the hallway.

"The numbers are about right. As for our injuries..." Kim Ki-Rok muttered, then nodded, firmly pressing a bandage to his side to cover the wound left by an Animaloid's attack. "Miss Seh-Eun, Miss Ji-Yeon, you two should follow me in to support Team One."

Yoo Seh-Eun glanced over her shoulder at the remaining Team Two Hunters as they battled mechanical monsters. Unlike the mid-bosses, Team Two was used to fighting these ordinary Humanoids and Animaloids, so they quickly cleared the corridor.

She turned back to Kim Ki-Rok. "Should we head in right away?"

"Hm..." Kim Ki-Rok thought it over.

In this Attempt, he had allowed ordinary soldiers and C-Class or higher Hunters to participate in the Gate raid, so the number of Hunters in the keep was much higher than in any previous Attempt.

After repeatedly returning to the past and figuring out the mid-bosses' weaknesses, Kim Ki-Rok had carefully assigned each Team Two Hunter to the mid-boss they had the best chance of defeating. Even so, this was the first time in a long while that the Hunters had managed to defeat all the mid-bosses and still arrive in time to help with the First.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity to finish the fight quickly, Kim Ki-Rok grinned at Yoo Seh-Eun and Lee Ji-Yeon and answered, "Let's rest for ten minutes, head in immediately, and defeat the First."