Translator: Vine
Translated At: Nyx Scans
Chapter: 53
There was a sensation of the body floating.
She had jumped from the balcony, but this place didn't seem to be the first-floor flowerbed or the walkway.
The only thing visible in the pitch-black darkness was a pale violet aurora.
The translucent aurora looked like a thin curtain fluttering in the wind.
It felt like floating in the middle of space, freed from gravity, or perhaps gently drifting on calm waves.
Not entirely disliking the strange and mysterious sensation, Eunha closed her eyes and readily surrendered her body to the feeling of buoyancy.
Behind her closed eyelids, her mother's smile appeared as if waiting.
'It was Mom's wish for our daughter to become a university student. Of course I'm happy.'
She didn't think 'that' was really her mother.
But she thought it was fortunate to be able to meet her like that, to hear those words like that.
Fortunate that the last memory of her mother was a smiling face, not one crushed under debris.
Eunha replayed her mother's final smile over and over behind her eyelids, ensuring she would never forget it.
How much time passed like that?
Thud—
The moment her floating legs touched the ground,
[Entering the gate interior.]
A blue system window popped up before her eyes.
And following that...
System Error = 21387 볷?¶□뚭긆깂깒?긽¶‡귻깛긐긘긚긡?
System Error = 21388 걁퉹뷠뾴?벍밙¶딯땝끯□궕뚷‡궻귘
System Error = 21387 볷?¶□뚭긆깂깒?긽¶‡귻깛긐긘긚긡?
System Error = 21388 걁퉹뷠뾴?벍밙¶딯땝끯□궕뚷‡궻귘
Error messages flooded in along with unusual vibrations.
Eunha had experienced something similar before.
'Unknown Gate.'
Vivid memories from the place she had been trapped for a long time surfaced.
Impossible to forget even if she tried.
She had nearly died there countless times.
However, the atmosphere here was completely different from the Unknown Gate Eunha remembered.
While it was also cave-shaped, this place felt like...
'Like an underwater scene.'
It felt like a hidden cave deep in the sea.
Fortunately, she could breathe.
Splash—
Taking a step forward, she heard the sound of water.
The ground surface was covered with about 3cm of water.
That wasn't all.
Seaweed, starfish, seashells, and other marine products were scattered around.
And what captured her attention most was—
"..."
—the pink coral covering the entire cave.
Sparkling like jewels, they densely occupied the cave floor, inner walls, everywhere, creating a scene like a picture from a fairy tale book.
However, no matter how beautiful the scenery, this was the interior of a gate, an Unknown Gate at that.
Meaning, it couldn't be judged like the majority of gates she had easily cleared so far.
Click, clack.
Eunha proceeded forward along the cave's inner wall.
The scenery remained unchanged for a long time.
She couldn't find Jehwi either.
Even after walking and walking.
Eunha approached the inner wall to mark her path.
While leaving an X mark on the wall with the sharp tip of her parasol—
"...This is."
Eunha paused, having spotted something on the nearby coral.
"A hand?"
A human male hand was visible beneath the pink coral.
Could someone be trapped under the coral?
She examined the coral closely to check, but that didn't seem to be the case.
Then what on earth was this hand?
The moment Eunha tilted her head—
'Could it be.'
Eunha had a bad feeling.
Eunha had experienced something similar before.
There had been a boss monster that turned attacking hunters into slime.
If the boss here was of a similar type, then these corals were...
...♪
A singing voice came from somewhere.
Just a melody, without lyrics.
It was a woman's voice.
Ding.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' warns you not to listen closely to the singing voice.]
A yellow message window popped up.
With the cat's warning, Eunha finally became certain.
Indeed, this singing voice must hold the clue to this Unknown Gate.
...♬♪
The singing seemed to come from ahead, yet also from behind.
Eunha quickly turned her head.
Northeast.
The sound was coming from that direction.
Eunha instinctively judged that she needed to follow that singing voice.
She couldn't waste time searching for the path.
Eunha thrust her right hand towards the inner wall.
In that instant, the pink corals came into view.
"..."
Frozen in that state, Eunha stared blankly at the corals for a long moment.
And then, one by one, she carefully began to detach them and place them on the floor.
These individuals, already completely transformed like this, would likely never return to human form.
If only she had been a little faster... No, even then, Eunha had no skills or items capable of dispelling abnormal statuses.
Finally, after carefully placing the last piece of coral on the floor, Eunha slowly extended her palm towards the inner wall again.
Even at this moment, the faint singing voice could be heard from the northeast.
Terrible things might be happening somewhere in this gate.
Therefore, she couldn't afford to explore the cave leisurely to get to the northeast.
In that case.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga—!
She just had to blast a path through.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga—!
"...!"
Inside the Unknown Gate.
The Immortal guild members dispatched as a search team stopped in their tracks at the sudden roar.
"M-monster wave?"
Immortal's third-in-command, Sungyoon, quickly assumed a combat stance faster than anyone else.
However, no matter how much time passed, no monsters appeared.
'What on earth was that?'
Sungyoon, keeping his bow aimed at the empty air, broke into a cold sweat.
This was an Unknown Gate.
A place where anything could happen.
Indeed, more than half of them had already perished or suffered serious injuries here, and—
"B-boss. Jaejin..."
—lost their minds.
When Do Sungyoon turned around, he saw a young hunter collapsed limply on the floor.
"Ugh... That's mine... Mine... I say...!"
The fact that he was spouting nonsense, the fact that pale pink coral was slowly sprouting on his back.
And...
...♬♪
The faintly heard singing voice.
It was the same as before.
"Everyone, cover your ears!"
Sungyoon commanded the remaining members.
But two had already succumbed to the hallucination.
"Damn it."
Muttering a curse under his breath, Sungyoon scanned the surroundings.
The remaining combat personnel were now just four, no, three.
Sungyoon fumbled in his pocket and took out his terminal.
[Network not found. Retry connection?]
[Loading]
[Error. Error Number 34421.]
[Network not found. Retry connection?]
He held onto a sliver of hope, but the terminal remained unresponsive.
Meaning, communication with the outside was completely impossible.
That wasn't all.
The appearing monsters varied in type and level, making response difficult.
Even their appearance timing was random.
Sometimes only one appeared, while other times dozens swarmed together.
Furthermore, the path was like a maze, and the occasionally heard singing voice was driving people mad one by one.
'A dilemma indeed.'
It truly was.
The gate exit was already closed, and they had lost more than half their combat strength before even encountering the boss.
Even if they luckily found the path and faced the boss now, there was no guarantee of victory.
The comrades waiting outside the gate would have requested support from headquarters according to protocol, but...
'Can we really survive until reinforcements arrive?'
Unable to shake off the weak thoughts that seemed to eat away at his spirit, Sungyoon clenched his fist tightly in frustration.
"This too... That too... Mine... It's..."
Thump, thump—
Pale pink coral sprouted over the guild member suffering from hallucinations.
Appearing indiscriminately on his back, face, everywhere.
The three remaining guild members, including Sungyoon, could only watch pitifully.
Because they had no more items left that could dispel abnormal statuses.
"Sorry..."
Sungyoon, his face contorted in anguish, averted his gaze from his comrade.
"B-boss!"
Just then, a guild member urgently called out to Do Sungyoon.
[Lv.37 'Ominous Shadow' reveals itself.]
[Lv.55 'Knight of Oblivion' reveals itself.]
[Lv.62 'One-Eyed Jester' reveals itself.]
Monsters appeared without warning.
Sungyoon spat out a short curse and grabbed an arrow shaft.
"I'll take the biggest one. You two handle the other two."
Sungyoon aimed his arrow at the Lv.62 'One-Eyed Jester'.
Pewww—!
The arrow flew swiftly, initiating the battle.
Tap! Thwack, thwack!
Only three combatants.
Their stamina was nearly depleted, but under the name of Immortal, they eventually succeeded in suppressing the three monsters.
"Hah, huff..."
However, their bodies had already reached their limit.
Though they managed to win this battle, they knew the next one would be difficult.
Sungyoon roughly staunched his wounds, then checked on the other two guild members.
Their condition wasn't good either.
The healing-type hunter was already incapacitated, and the recovery potions they brought were running low.
—Now, a decision had to be made.
"..."
Sungyoon staggered to his feet and headed towards the gate wall.
He took out a portable dagger from his belt and began carving a message onto the wall with its sharp tip.
"Boss..."
The remaining two guild members stared blankly at Sungyoon's back.
They too had realized it long ago.
That they would die here.
Scratch, scratch...
The fact that the singing had a hallucinatory effect.
The fact that succumbing to the hallucination led to coralization.
The fact that monsters appeared a certain time after the singing stopped.
The fact that the monsters had no common characteristics.
Sungyoon slowly recorded all that information on the wall.
For the comrades who would enter the gate after them.
And at the very bottom of the message, the last thing to leave was for the families waiting for him outside.
"Ugh..."
Someone choked back a sob.
He didn't want to die in a place like this.
In truth, all three of them felt that way.
Turning around, they could see the breathtakingly beautiful pink corals undulating.
They were comrades, and they would be his future self.
The thought sent chills down his spine.
I want to get out.
But I can't get out.
After carving the final message on the inner wall, Sungyoon let the knife slip from his grasp.
Clang—
The sharp sound of metal echoed through the quiet gate interior.
And as if waiting for it, the ground began to vibrate.
Kugugugugugu...
[Lv.80 'Broken Clockwork Doll' reveals itself.]
A blue system window popped up before the three men.
However, none of the three picked up their weapons.
An Lv.80 monster.
A high-level monster they might not have been able to defeat even if they were in peak condition.
Creeak...
The doll's neck began to twist bizarrely.
Its pair of eyes were button-shaped, yet somehow it felt like their gazes met.
"You two run."
Sungyoon said lowly.
"B-boss?!"
"What are you saying?!"
"I said run. If possible, survive somehow until the Master arrives."
Sungyoon, with his wounded hands, grabbed his bow once more.
In his current state, he couldn't defeat that monster, but buying time for the others to escape should be possible.
"If you happen to meet the Master, tell him."
Only one arrow remained in his quiver.
Sungyoon, holding the last arrow, parted his lips.
"Until the very end, I did my best for the mission."
Fwoosh!
Sungyoon leaped towards the 'Broken Clockwork Doll'.
The doll stretched its stitched mouth wide into a grin.
[Lv.80 'Broken Clockwork Doll' uses a skill.]
[▶ Gulp in One Bite]
Snap, snap...
The threads stitching its mouth burst, and the doll opened its mouth wide.
And in that instant.
BOOOOOM—!
A large explosion occurred.
"Boss—!"
The guild member, unable to bear leaving him behind and fleeing, screamed in despair.
The tremendous explosion kicked up a cloud of dust in all directions, obscuring their vision.
In the acrid dust, they anxiously searched for Sungyoon.
And then.
Click—
Through the sightless void, the unfamiliar sound of high heels clicking echoed.
