Translator: Vine
Translated At: Nyx Scans
Chapter: 124
#124. Root Sucker Parasite
2022.12.02.
"1 minute 53 seconds until gate entry."
The hunters standing on the sea before Daebyeongpungdo waited until the gate entrance stabilized.
This was because if they entered recklessly, they could be thrown out by the sparks enveloping the gate entrance upon entry or suffer severe injuries.
In other words, this was an essential process, regardless of the gate's type or difficulty.
"1 minute 30 seconds."
While an Association agent announced the remaining time, Eunha broadly surveyed her surroundings.
Steep cliffs carved by rough waves.
Below them, the five units deployed for the South Coast Gate subjugation stood in perfectly aligned ranks and files.
The 1st unit, the 'Vanguard Attack Unit', led by the Monkey King.
The 2nd unit, the 'Small Elite Unit', led by Trickster.
The 3rd unit, the 'Healing Unit', led by Doctor Plant.
The 'Special Mission Unit', led by Baekrang, or on the surface, Lee Hagyun.
The 'Support Unit', led by the Princess of Dark Flare.
And—.
"Wow, awesome. Unnie, this is my first time at an Unknown Gate."
Phantom Thief Kang Ayeon, who, as always, attended the subjugation alone without a unit or guild, and,
"..."
Maestro Baek Yijun, who likewise stood alone in the very front row with the captains, without any unit members.
The two had refused to form or belong to a unit for different reasons.
In Ayeon's case, it was because it was bothersome; in Yijun's case, it was because it was unnecessary.
"1 minute left."
The scheduled entry time was now just around the corner.
The hunters gathered here were composed only of carefully selected individuals.
Those with extensive gate subjugation experience, and whose skills were equally recognized.
Nevertheless, most of the hunters stared at the black rift on the cliff with hardened faces.
To them, an Unknown Gate was an unknown territory.
Among the hundreds of hunters gathered here, only a very small number, including Eunha, had experience with Unknown Gates.
A tension that grew as the gate entry approached.
It was only natural that the surroundings became rapidly silent.
"Is it really an Unknown Gate? It's just black in color; maybe it's nothing special once we get inside."
"We'll be able to come back alive, right...?"
"What's there to worry about. We have the Leader."
"But who's that kid next to the Captain?"
"I don't know either."
In the case of the support unit led by Eunha, it was particularly more chaotic.
"Unnie, Unnie."
Ayeon, who was sticking close to Eunha, tapped her shoulder.
Since Ayeon didn't belong to any unit, she was arbitrarily standing with the support unit led by Eunha, and it seemed she intended to stick by Eunha's side until they entered the gate, or even after.
"Look over there. Maestro is looking at Unnie."
Ayeon, giving a slight thumbs-up, pointed to the left.
"What, why is he looking?"
Ayeon muttered with a serious expression.
She didn't seem to care at all that other hunters were looking at her.
What on earth is she, participating without a unit?
Most of the hunters, unaware that this seemingly naive girl's identity was the S-Class hunter Phantom Thief, were glancing at Ayeon with such questions.
"Unnie, did you know Maestro?"
However, Phantom Thief herself seemed more concerned about why Yijun was looking at Eunha than about those gazes.
Eunha, who had been staring at the rift, turned her head in the direction Ayeon indicated.
As she said, Yijun was staring intently this way.
Unlike Siwoo, he didn't avert his gaze even when their eyes met.
"20 seconds left..."
It felt as if time were flowing a little slower.
In the momentarily frozen air, their gazes intertwined.
"..."
"..."
Neither averted their gaze from the other.
However, neither of them spoke.
"Ah!"
Ayeon, who had been lost in deep thought, clapped her hands as if she had noticed something.
"Could that person be Unnie's fan too?"
"...?"
Eunha turned her gaze to Ayeon as if to ask what she was talking about.
A fan?
Who of whom?
While she blinked with a slightly dumbfounded face, time flowed on without waiting.
"10 seconds left. 9, 8, 7, 6..."
The black rift, which had been rotating like a whirlwind, began to gradually quiet down.
"Or not."
The moment Ayeon stuck out her tongue and smiled playfully,
"1 second left."
Wooooong—
The gate entrance opened completely.
The smell of wet earth and wood.
Upon entering the gate, that, unexpectedly, was what greeted them first.
Monkey King Yoo Hwan lifted his head and gazed into the air.
White objects, resembling dandelion seeds, were seen floating in the air.
A beautiful sight, as if snowflakes were falling.
This time, he looked around.
The space they had entered was a wide, flat area enveloped by thick tree roots.
No passage leading to the next area was visible.
The ceiling was roots, the floor was roots; this place...
"It's like a giant tree."
Yoo Hwan muttered softly.
To be precise, it felt as if they were trapped in an empty space inside a giant tree root.
"Up to five, you said. Roje, the number of gates you predicted."
Yoo Hwan glanced at Roje standing beside him.
"...From what I see right now, this seems to be all there is."
"We don't know that yet."
Roje warned in a low, calm voice.
"We can't let our guard down. We've only just entered this place. And..."
Look at this.
As Roje gently spread her palm towards the ground, dozens of green thorn vines shot up from the ground all at once.
Swish—
With a repeated hand gesture, each vine curled its end roundly.
As if strongly compressing something.
Yoo Hwan discovered a small, white life form bound by the vines.
'A larva?'
Yoo Hwan's eyebrows twitched.
The 30cm-long thing, though large, looked like an insect larva in form.
"Yoo Hwan, below."
As Roje whispered, Yoo Hwan, who had been staring at the larva bound by the vines, lowered his gaze.
The squirming earth beneath his feet.
It was—.
"Form up."
Yoo Hwan said, tightly wrapping the bandage around his hand.
What emerged from the disturbed earth were thousands, no, tens of thousands of white larvae.
At the appearance of the monsters, and at Yoo Hwan's words, the five units scattered to their respective positions.
It was to conduct battle efficiently within the wide gate.
"Master!"
"Yeah. Gather them in one place while I reload."
West.
The 2nd unit, the small elite unit led by Trickster Song Minju, also began to move swiftly.
North.
The special mission unit, led by Wolf's Vice-Guild Master Lee Hagyun, also commenced full-scale combat.
"Support them."
In the center, Roje's healing unit was in a formation to support the units fighting in each of the east, west, north, and south directions.
The area Eunha's unit was assigned to was the south.
The closest to the gate entrance; though the entrance was currently closed, it was a position from which they could escape first in a pinch.
"Aaargh! Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!"
Ayeon, who had jumped up and down on the spot, clung to Eunha as if holding on for dear life.
If there was one thing the one-and-only, self-centered Phantom Thief Kang Ayeon couldn't stand in this world, it was two things.
Those who played with money, and,
"Kyaaaak!"
Bugs.
Especially hairy, many-legged bugs like those.
"..."
Eunha, who had been staring impassively at the fussing Ayeon, lightly struck the ground with the parasol she was holding.
Thwack.
The larva, pierced by the sharp tip of the parasol, burst without even resisting.
A viscous, purplish liquid flowed from the burst larva's corpse.
This color, and this smell.
Unmistakable.
This was monster blood.
Meaning, what Eunha had just burst with the tip of her parasol was an 'insect-type monster'.
Whoosh, thwack!
Eunha, lightly flicking her parasol to shake off the blood, scanned her surroundings.
The squirming earth.
The larvae that had been sleeping beneath the soil were slowly beginning to wake up.
At a rough glance, their number seemed to be in the hundreds of thousands, or even more.
The sight of countless larvae squirming out of the earth was enough to give even Eunha, who usually had no aversion to bugs, goosebumps.
However, there was no need to be frightened yet.
They were larvae.
To be precise, they could be said to be in a state where they hadn't 'grown' into proper monsters.
Meaning, right now, their combat power was close to zero.
'However.'
In other words, it also meant they would 'grow' soon.
How much time it would take for them to fully grow, whether there were conditions for growth, whether all of these tens of thousands of larvae would grow, and what kind of monster they would become upon growing—it was all unknown.
"..."
Eunha slowly lowered her gaze.
The corpse of the larva she had just burst with her parasol,
'It's sinking into the ground.'
Was slowly descending into the soil.
Usually, when a monster dies, it immediately pixelates and scatters into the air.
Except in cases where one has an item that allows for butchering or skinning.
For a monster's corpse to sink into the ground whole like this was an uncommon phenomenon.
As if being absorbed.
The surface of the earth, squirming more and more violently.
...And about 10 seconds later.
"Uwaaaah!"
Someone screamed.
[Lv.30 'Root Sucker Parasite' has become an adult!]
A horde of monsters, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, rose from the ground.
The insect-type monster, about 60cm in size, had transparent wings with a faint golden sheen, like a bee.
However, contrary to its beautiful wings, its straw-like proboscis was repulsively long, and its legs, covered in what could be either fur or spines, wriggled like tentacles.
The 12 eyeballs clustered near its forehead gleamed eerily.
The moment she met them, Eunha firmly tightened her grip on the parasol she was holding.
The real battle started now.
Each unit, composed of carefully selected hunters.
Moreover, thanks to the strategy they had roughly planned beforehand, the battle itself was not as difficult as expected.
However.
[Lv.30 'Root Sucker Parasite' has become an adult!]
No matter how many they defeated, there was no end in sight.
This was a different case from the skeletons they had defeated at the qualification test on Bokgye Mountain.
In the case of the skeletons, not only were their levels low, but they simply 'regenerated'.
Even then, they had a critical weakness in the form of a core in the center of their bodies.
However, in the case of the 'Root Sucker Parasites' before them, it seemed as if they were multiplying, rather than just regenerating; their numbers seemed to increase rather than decrease.
'Damn it.'
Eunha frowned in annoyance.
Unless a method was found, the creatures would endlessly regenerate.
Based on past experience, this place was probably near the gate entrance.
She didn't know what kind of battle lay ahead, so she couldn't afford to expend much stamina right at the entrance.
'I have to think.'
A situation where she had to find a solution quickly.
Every gate must have a method of conquest.
Even if this were an Unknown Gate, the key to the solution must be somewhere.
"Kyaaak! Crazy XX! Dirty X! X-like...!"
Thwack!
Ayeon, beside Eunha, was spitting curses and wildly swinging her dagger in the air.
Kieeeek...
A monster, hit by Ayeon's blind attack, thudded! and fell to the ground.
And once again, it disappeared as if seeping into the ground.
Without leaving even a bone.
'Seeps in?'
Eunha, who had been staring intently at the monster gradually sinking into the soil, suddenly changed her expression.
[Lv.30 'Root Sucker Parasite' has become an adult!]
And another monster of the same form, rising again from the ground.
Swish!
Eunha, swinging her parasol and splitting the monster in two, lifted her head.
'...Root.'
She moved her gaze, following the massive root that started from the field ceiling.
The root, piercing through the center of the field and reaching the floor, was connected to somewhere deep beneath the soil.
'It's like a giant tree.'
Suddenly, the words Yoo Hwan had muttered right after entering the gate came to mind.
Eunha stared blankly down at her feet.
Tree.
And root...
A root is an organ that absorbs moisture and nutrients.
If so, where was this thick, massive root here getting its moisture and nutrients from, and where was it sending them?
'Confirming it directly would be the most accurate.'
Eunha tapped the ground with her parasol.
Naturally, the hard ground didn't even budge with just a single parasol.
Shattering such a solid floor in one go was by no means easy.
While walls could be broken through with an explosion, the thickness of the ground and walls was on a different level.
It would be impossible even with a sharp and hard parasol.
Eunha slowly looked around.
The support unit, in charge of the southern region of the gate.
Unfortunately, within this unit, there were no hunters with destructive power greater than Eunha's.
'I need one powerful blow, strong enough to break through the floor in one go.'
As Eunha pondered deeply, the face of a certain man suddenly came to mind.
'There is.'
Someone with such a powerful blow.
Probably somewhere in the east of this gate.
"I'll entrust this place to you for a moment."
"Unnie?"
Eunha, muttering shortly to Ayeon, headed east without hesitation.
