Chapter 497: How to Open a Suitcase (2)

The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood

Clutch.

But when that kind of sensation hits you, the story changes.

"Aagh!"

That invisible 'something' suddenly latched onto her arm. Seonwoo Yeon barely managed to suppress the scream that almost burst out. At the same time, true to her expertise in disaster-site management, she began analyzing the situation at high speed.

Come to think of it, the alien named Kim Giryeo had properly taught her in the past how to move the mysteries within her body. Seonwoo Yeon circulated her own magic to feel out the thing attached to her arm. Soon, the following shape took form within the sharp intuition of the mage.

"The skull is small and extremely elongated... No, what is this thing, really?"

She was quite flustered at first.

"Ah! Come to think of it, didn't he say he came from a planet where people can easily change their bodies...?"

For that reason, Seonwoo Yeon suspected that this unidentified transparent substance might be Kim Giryeo's new shell. But even so, it seemed far too small, so her tension didn't ease.

If monsters capable of invisibility had mixed in among those coming out of the red gate, the situation would be nothing but a headache.

[Hello.]

Fortunately, things didn't spiral toward the worst-case scenario. The golem clinging to Seonwoo Yeon's arm soon opened its mouth.

[It's me. Kim Giryeo.]

[Can you hear my voice?]

[Of course, I doubt the magic failed, so it'd be better if you didn't answer. Still, since this is an object I worked on quite extensively, it seems you were able to recognize the trace when it started functioning.]

It was a familiar voice.

"What on earth is hanging off my arm that it can even talk?"

She hadn't expected to end up conversing with someone like this, of all ways. While Seonwoo Yeon was still flustered—the long, snake-shaped golem produced sound from atop its scales.

[For reference, the thing clinging to your arm right now is a soldier doll I sent for your sake.]

[And the reason I sent this to you immediately is simple. At disaster sites, your probability of dying tends to be rather high.]

[But don't worry about the Enchanter, another friend of mine. She's a weakling just the same, but on the other hand, she has no duty of defense, so she already evacuated via air route.]

[Since my acquaintance has evacuated successfully, what matters now is this part.]

Before she could even raise an objection, the snake continued speaking.

[The golem I sent you is powerful enough to massacre monsters of A-rank or below all by itself.]

[However, it does have one drawback... For various reasons, it's difficult for it to reveal itself, so it has to maintain [invisibility].]

[In short, if it ends up in a bloody fight with a powerhouse like an S-rank, its energy will be drained instantly. So think of the golem as insurance, and focus on running away properly.]

[After all, the best defense isn't attack, but evasion, right?]

But ending the conversation here left a problem.

"W-wait a moment."

Swoosh.

She hurriedly ducked into an alley people weren't paying attention to. She had no idea what form this sound was entering through, but—in that state, Seonwoo Yeon spoke urgently.

"I'm sorry in the middle of an emergency, Kim Giryeo-ssi, but I think I need to at least see the shape... of the weapon you sent, once, to focus on the site."

[The shape-1]

If she kept something invisible clinging to her arm, it was obvious her imagination would keep running wild. So Seonwoo Yeon asked whether he could show the golem's face, just briefly.

[ㅇㅅㅇ]

Soon, at about shoulder height, her eyes met the thing that had lifted its head.

[ㅇωㅇ]

Flick. Flick.

Because it was so long, she'd thought maybe some plant vine had stuck to her arm. But then the snake-like form came clearly into view. And with eyes that clear, she couldn't help wondering why she'd imagined something so terrifying-looking in the first place. It was the very moment the air-element primal mage stopped thinking.

Somewhere far off in the city, another thunderous crash drew everyone's attention.

***

Boom!

"Ah—seriously, just looking at them, you can't tell what rank they are at all!"

"And look at the destructive power of that entity Giryeo-ssi marked as A-rank. It's thoughtlessly destroying an apartment complex the citizens rebuilt with blood and sweat!"

"Finally caught them all."

A short noise. Long sentences from an acquaintance. After passing through a series of sounds, a new conversation began.

"But Giryeo-ssi, what kind of phone calls have you been making for a while now?"

I lowered my phone from my face and answered.

"To call in reinforcements..."

Reinforcements. That had been my intent when I first picked up the phone, but since the other party remained silent to the end, what meaning did it even have now?

"... I tried, but the person who claims to be an S-rank Hunter is unresponsive."

I turned off the device.

"Lately, he's been showing up at scenes even when not called, so I thought I could use him as manpower. I wonder why he isn't answering at this hour."

"Are you sure he's in the country?"

"Yes. I've definitely confirmed—by magic—that he's firmly camped right in downtown Seoul."

"Then why isn't he answering the phone? That's definitely strange. In the middle of all this chaos."

I looked at the curse mage speaking in such a gentle tone and thought,

"It's more likely he isn't appearing because the owner of the Kage Mage Tower is at the scene."

But that was just speculation.

I've been tracking Kang Changho's magic signature steadily since the day he entered the country, but there's no real reason to call over someone stuck way out in a suburban residential area right now......"

For now, let's handle the work at hand. Thinking that, I focused on the immediate situation. However, to explain at this point, the primary mission I was handed as an S-rank Hunter in South Korea was not actually combat.

"Wow, water-attribute is great after all. I never really saw its advantages before, but now that I think about it, you can see the flow of power instantly."

"Certainly, [Curse] is a colorless and odorless skill, so it can be inconvenient in situations like this--."

Seo Esther and I were simply helping evacuate civilians. Everyone was running around empty-handed, and if a civilian encountered an enemy from a red gate at a time like this, it'd be disastrous.

"By the way, Giryeo-ssi, what rank do you think the monster we just killed was?"

"Judging by its defense, maybe around B-rank...."

"Then it really is impossible to tell with human senses, just like the Association report said."

"Even so, there are still no cases of S-rank discoveries."

The pyromancer representing Korea pushed through the Red Gate dense areas with mana. The owner of the [Curse] skill, which doesn't cause much damage to real estate, suppressed monsters in areas where civilian buildings were more sensitively exposed. Once it was revealed that the enemies were monsters of unidentifiable rank, the Association actively increased the activity ratio of S-rank Hunters in this manner. And civil servants like Seonwoo Yeon, who must perform national order maintenance duties, seem to be grouped into units to increase safety.

...

Chhk.

[For those moving in units, please proceed with the subjugation by having a lower-ranked Awakened attack first to check the opponent's defense.]

It was at the point when a muffled sound came from the radio. I asked for permission from the accompanying Esther and I briefly approached the passage emitting red light.

"The monsters just keep coming."

Naturally, it was an action for information gathering. Since I am an alien who thinks about gates day and night, I have naturally developed techniques to investigate the emergence routes of dungeons.

Since I had already prepared the means anyway, I placed my hand on the nearby passage. Of course, this was merely a light source, so my body part passed through it as if touching smoke, but I acquired new information through this process.

[30 seconds until passage activation]

Only thirty seconds.

"So after that, the boss monster comes out and the situation ends?"

If that had been all the information the red gate provided, I might have made that mistake. But the special circumstances unfolding here carried one more complication.

[Time remaining until the 2nd activation: 1 hour]

"No?"

The moment I roughly dismantled the magic formula in front of me, shocking information hit me.

"Then this red gate... could it be that multiple waves of monsters will come out?"

Monsters could be hunted down, no matter what. That was exactly why the point infuriating me more than anything else was this.

[Time remaining: 2 hours]

"Damn it, then when am I supposed to get off work?"

Forced urban warfare. Rapid response required. However, unlike Blue Gates, the Red Gate, which used to be at least quick to return from because it spewed out monsters and vanished in an instant, had now abandoned its only advantage.

"Even if we endure wave after wave, we won't be going home..."

Furthermore, the more despairing part was that the number of waves that could crash in the future was completely unknown...

***

After the nationwide gate conversion incident began.

About nine hours later.

"Ahh! Damn it!"

I almost shouted out loud. And the reason for the intense reaction was simple.

"I was right. There was no way things would end with just the second wave!"

The Earth's northern hemisphere had been dark for a long time. However, we, S-rank Hunters, had to continue working outdoors until this pitch-black hour.

"That damned red gate. No, actually—not just the red ones. I wished the blue and white ones would all just disappear from Earth entirely.

"When do you think the next wave will come out?"

For now, since I knew a lot of information with my superior magic knowledge, the situation was at least slightly better.

"The fourth emergence is scheduled for three hours from now."

But that wasn't a fundamental solution.

"Which means I have to camp out with these mammals all day and come up with a workaround."

The thought I'm about to have sounds a bit like an excuse, but... I have been focusing on various topics lately.

O Creating tools to detect Gisinche.

O Modifying various high-performance attack spells so they'd function even in dry atmospheric environments.

O Complete lung repair.

In short, there is an absolute lack of time. Because even an Archmage didn't spend a day as 48 hours alone. I had never seriously grasped the element of the Gate itself.

"If I'd dropped everything and focused only on researching gates, I might've been able to forcibly close a red passage or two by now..."

Thanks to that, right now, I was in a position where I simply had to endure the approaching monsters as set by an unnamed enemy. Thus, I was sitting down with a gloomy mara aura.

"Hunter-nim!"

Then, a few seconds later—a bright voice suddenly rang out at the site.

"The night watch schedule has been decided! They say you'll be the first one to stay awake, Hunter!"

This was a sound made by the Rank 1 Hunter of South Korea. For now, since the person has a clear expression, it looks good, but...

"Is he happy because he wanted the later shift but happened to get an order like this...?"

Jeong Haeseong and Seo Esther, and the others—No matter how happy the Earthlings might be, there was a limit to how much I could empathize. I was already irritated to the brim over the impending overtime, so smiling didn't come easily.

"That's good to hear, Giryeo."

"Yes?"

"Isn't the first watch usually the most preferred?"

"Ah."

But after hearing what Seo Esther, who was waiting together with us, added, my thoughts changed.

"So they gave me the best slot."

Looking at it now, they'd been showing consideration. They hadn't strongly objected to me coming out to help, yet quietly looked after the well-being of a patient—well, not really sick, but still.

"If I refuse even this minor consideration, the Earthlings won't feel good."

Sometimes receiving a gift from the other party is a good option. I did not nitpick the night order they set. Thus, the scene soon became this configuration.

"Giryeo-ssi. Then we'll sleep first!"

"Just how long is that red gate going to keep causing trouble?"

"Haeseong-ssi, stop worrying and save your strength too."

The two fell into a light sleep inside the temporary camp set up by volunteers from the Hunter Association. Well, during the early days of the Dungeon Shock when the world was unstable, things like this must have happened often.

"Sleep well."

I fully understood them accepting the current situation as natural, and I planned to investigate the gate alone for a while—

"Hm?"

Early evening. The moment I was about to leave the temporary tent after saying final goodbyes to the S-rank Hunters.

"What's that?"

Grrr.

An unknown sound suddenly rang out from the corner.

Surprisingly, the one who made this sound was not a monster but a mammal. I see now that Jeong Haeseong was grinding his teeth while applying immense force to his jaw; when observing him sleeping before, he certainly didn't have this habit. But why is he showing such a rough sleep habit only now?

"Is it because the portable mattress the Association brought isn't very good?"

At first, I watched him with simple curiosity. However, the deeper Jeong Haeseong fell into sleep, the more the anomalies increased at an incomprehensible rate.

Drip.

He hadn't been asleep for long, but he began to break out in a cold sweat rapidly. Furthermore, now he was groaning and furrowing his brow....

"Ugh, damn it. What's with all this noise?"

For reference, it seemed the woman hadn't fallen asleep yet.