"You’ve arrived at the gate you chose?"
Soon after, they reached the gate they had decided to raid. It wasn’t long before a familiar car appeared, roaring towards them.
It was Jo Jin-hwi’s yellow Ferrari.
Jo Jin-hwi got out of the car and waved his hand to greet them.
“Yo! An Pro-nim!” he shouted.
His expression was bright. But as Su-ho got closer, he noticed that despite the cheerful face, his dark circles were quite heavy.
Su-ho imdiately cast Heal and Recovery on him as he spoke.
“Your dark circles are pretty intense. Did you pull an all-nighter?”
“Wow, the healing from the Sword God...! Is it really okay to use this so freely?”
“It's just a little bit of mana.”
“Heh, in that case... yeah, I’ve been pulling an all-nighter. I’ve been really busy with the special article lately.”
“A special article? Oh!”
“What, did you forget about it?”
“Ah, no way.”
In truth, he had montarily forgotten. With the five days in prison and everything else on his mind, Su-ho had briefly lost track of what he had asked Jo Jin-hwi to do.
Su-ho chuckled and asked, “So, is everything ready?”
“Yeah, just like I said last ti. I’ve been searching for retired governnt hunters who didn’t receive proper compensation and I’ve managed to get interviews with so who are struggling in hospitals. I got approval from the desk too.”
The request Su-ho had made to Jo Jin-hwi was about the gate rewards for governnt hunters.
Currently, the governnt was taking all the loot obtained by governnt hunters in gates for themselves.
And that was a problem.
With salaries already low compared to regular guilds, taking the loot too ant that hunters were always running short of funds, preventing them from improving their gear, which led to accidents in the gates.
This, in turn, resulted in chronic manpower shortages.
Although the system would change eventually, Su-ho wanted to change it as soon as possible.
‘That way, the Daheonhyup will get stronger.’
The power of a group ultimately cos from its strong individuals.
The reason why the Daheonhyup was weak both nationally and internationally was because its leaders and most of its mbers were either civilians or powerless hunters.
What could they possibly relate to in this industry?
That’s why Su-ho had planned to overhaul this system from the ground up.
And the first step was about the gate rewards.
He already had the experience from his previous life, having once overhauled the system, so why not do it again?
Su-ho nodded and said, “That’s good to hear. After we finish this raid, let’s outline the plan.”
“Sounds good. But, uh...”
Jo Jin-hwi pointed towards the gate.
“Are we raiding this one?”
“Yes, I picked this one myself.”
“...You know where this is, right?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t have co here if I didn’t know.”
“...Wow.”
Jo Jin-hwi clapped and expressed his admiration at Su-ho’s confidence.
After parking the car, they t with the gate manager.
The manager, who had been waiting for them, looked at Su-ho and spoke.
“Good afternoon, I’m Kim Seong-ho, the manager here. I’ve been contacted by Team Leader Jeong.”
“Nice to et you, Manager. I’m An Su-ho, the deputy team leader of the Special Team 2, and this is Jo Jin-hwi, the reporter covering this raid.”
“Jo Jin-hwi,” he said, handing over his business card.
After receiving the card, Kim Seong-ho quickly scanned it and then spoke to Su-ho.
“Though I’ve been inford, are you really planning to raid this place by yourself?”
“Yes, that’s right. I specifically chose this one.”
“Specifically?”
“Yes, we can discuss the details after the raid.”
“Ah, yes! I must have held you up too long. I’ll show you the way right away.”
Kim Seong-ho, who was worried like Jo Jin-hwi, could not be blad.
After all, this was one of the gates with a high number of casualties.
But Su-ho, unfazed, calmly entered the square.
Soon, they saw the portal, and as Su-ho stepped through it, the notification appeared:
[Entering the Gate.]
[Loading Gate Information.]
[Dark Canyon]
Entrance Conditions: Level 100-140, at least 1 Red Stat required.
Max Entry mbers: 2 people.
The conditions were strict.
With only two mbers allowed in, and the level restriction as well as the Red Stat requirent, it was quite a challenge.
But that was exactly why Su-ho had chosen this gate. The stricter the conditions, the easier it would be to gain attention after successfully raiding it.
‘It’s also the perfect place for so marketing.’
The Dark Canyon was a place with more injuries than deaths, making it a returnable-type gate.
Once Su-ho entered the gate, the environnt around him changed rapidly.
Inside a seemingly ordinary cave, at the end of the cave, there was a path, though it was hard to tell whether it was an entrance or an exit. Instead of a door, there was nothing but pitch-black darkness swirling ahead.
‘It’s really dark here.’
The Dark Canyon.
The reason this place was called the Dark Canyon was due to the overwhelming darkness that filled the area.
Without a flashlight, the Dark Canyon remained completely impenetrable, making it a huge obstacle just from its environnt alone.
Of course, that didn’t apply to Su-ho.
As he stood at the entrance of the cave, the Original Vampire effect activated.
[ You are unaffected by the darkness. ]
As soon as the skill effect activated, the darkness in the Dark Canyon disappeared in front of Su-ho’s eyes, revealing the true face of the canyon.
Su-ho nodded in silence as he observed the canyon.
It was as he expected.
The Dark Canyon wasn’t dangerous just because of the darkness.
The path, which seed narrow, got even narrower as Su-ho moved forward, much like walking a tightrope.
Additionally, the path wasn’t straight but winding, with sharp stone pillars protruding out as traps.
Far ahead, the next entrance was visible.
In other words, the complex geography and the darkness were the first major obstacles here.
Because of that, Su-ho moved forward without hesitation.
The darkness didn’t restrict him, so it was just another obstacle to overco.
Just then, a strange sound ca from beside the cliff.
Swish!
As Su-ho walked confidently, sothing resembling a tentacle shot out from the edge of the cliff.
But he didn’t panic. He easily dodged the tentacle's attack.
This happened again, and again.
The monsters were deliberately reaching out to try to trip him.
But Su-ho clicked his tongue and dodged them all.
However, as Su-ho got closer to the exit, the attacks beca more frequent and blatant.
But still, Su-ho dodged them all.
After all, he could see everything clearly, and he already knew where they were hiding.
Finally, when he reached the exit, Su-ho turned around and examined the area near the cliff.
What appeared to be tentacles were writhing together. These monsters were called Cliff Anemones, a low-level creature.
‘A lot of challengers have died because of them.’
This was a 1-star gate, after all.
The first stage, with its darkness and rough terrain, was just the appetizer, and these creatures were the main course.
That’s why so many casualties had occurred.
Even if one managed to get the light source or visibility, the narrow paths and these creatures made mobility extrely difficult.
Su-ho shifted his gaze toward the next stage.
The next stage was also shrouded in darkness.
But for Su-ho, it was clear.
In the darkness, piles of boxes were stacked, but these were all traps.
Inside the boxes, Mimics, monsters that lurk and prey on adventurers, were hiding.
However, unlike the previous stage, dodging wouldn’t work here.
The entrance to the next stage was obstructed by the pile of boxes.
But Su-ho wasn’t flustered.
Instead, he smiled.
Normally, Mimics would just be an annoying obstacle, but in this case, they were perfect for practice.
He activated a skill.
[ Mana Detection activated. ] As Mana Detection activated, the subtle waves of mana appeared in front of him like ripples on a still lake.
Among the piles of boxes, there were mana accumulations flickering like candles, showing the positions of the hidden Mimics.
Su-ho silently cast a blessing on himself and summoned the Blood Sword.
[ Blessing activated. ]
[ Blood Weapon activated. ]
He took a ready stance and slowly raised his sword.
“Hu.”
He took a deep breath and held it.
His gaze, once low, now focused forward, and instead of exhaling, he explosively extended his sword.
Swish!
The target was the nearest Mimic.
This one had likely positioned itself there to ambush the adventurer, driven by greed.
But that was its mistake.
The Mimic, lured by its greed, was the first to lose its life.
[ Mimic defeated. ]
But there was no response from the system.
Su-ho murmured with disappointnt as he sheathed his sword.
"That took a while."
It couldn’t be helped.
It wasn’t all that surprising, though.
The technique Su-ho was trying to master was sothing he only acquired after reaching over level 200 in his previous life.
Thinking that, he moved on to the next stage.
It was then that Su-ho entered the next stage.
[ You have entered the Boss Room. ]
As soon as he stepped into the next stage, the system notified him that he had entered the Boss Room.
The surroundings were still pitch black.
However, Su-ho could see clearly, unaffected by the darkness.
'No wonder people keep failing.'
At first glance, it looked like the room was just dark.
But that couldn’t be helped, considering the massive shape blocking his view, whether it was near or far.
But as Su-ho widened his vision, he saw the na card of the monster.
[ Ultra Giant Mimic Lv. 132 ]
The na of the monster was Ultra Giant Mimic.
Its level was only 132.
However, what was surprising was that no one who had entered Dark Canyon had ever defeated this monster.
That was because, in addition to its size, the monster was currently hiding inside a massive steel body, which was its concealnt chanism.
The Ultra Giant Mimic had fought in this manner for a long ti.
As a boss monster, it had made its challengers exhaust themselves by forcing them to struggle through two stages. Once they were utterly drained, it would finally hunt them down.
It was planning on doing the sa this ti.
As it thought about it, the Ultra Giant Mimic glanced at the expression of the challenger.
But this ti, the challenger was smiling.
It was as if they had discovered a gold mine.
'This is going to make a great training dummy.'
Su-ho smiled and swung his sword.
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