Gentlen, Welco to Hell (1)
Suddenly, the Golden Gate expanded, increasing its area.
Those outside were greatly startled by this unforeseen phenonon.
When the research team asuring the gate reported sensing a strange energy from the inflating gate, everyone in the hall was collectively shocked.
"No way, is it going berserk?"
"It's dangerous! Evacuate, now!"
A long ti ago, back when gates first appeared—
People struggled to eliminate the gates that continuously discharged monsters.
After much effort, they created a small device to remove gates and tested it on lower grade gates to see if it was practical.
The principle was as follows:
They theorized that by destabilizing the energy cycle emitted by a gate, the gate would be unable to maintain its form.
The first test was carried out—once the gem-like device was activated, it was destroyed.
And then, a horrifying result ensued.
Instead of making the gate disappear, it went berserk, and monsters ca pouring out like an army of ants.
〈Experint Failed〉
〈Project Abandoned〉
It was quite the natural outco.
The Gate Annihilation Device was renad as the Gate Rampage Device.
To keep it out of anyone's hands, the international organization 'The World' took over managent.
The only fortunate thing was that gates of higher rank could not be driven into a rampage.
At most, you could only send D-grade or C-grade gates berserk.
In other words, sothing on the scale of the relatively weak Golden Gate could just barely be forced into a rampage.
"No doubt about it. This is a rampage phenonon!"
"But how! There isn't even a device that could do this...!"
"We don't care—just evacuate people first!"
Monsters were pouring endlessly from within the gate.
There exists a theory that a gate is essentially another world.
If every monster inside ran outside, it would be no different from the creatures of an entire world flooding into Earth.
Hunters remaining outside struggled desperately to hold back the skeletal monsters surging out.
Other administrators focused on evacuating the people.
"Why all of a sudden...!"
"We'll find the cause later—move!"
"All right!"
Hunters blocked the monsters; the other administrators hurried civilians out.
Thanks to this, there were no casualties as people evacuated the departnt store.
But the number of monsters showed no sign of decreasing.
As a result, the defending hunters began to get overwheld, and in the end, countless monsters broke through and burst outside the mall.
"What the hell is happening inside?"
anwhile, the woman dispatched from The World—
Karen Reyhold—was also working hard to restrain the monsters.
Being a mber of that organization, she too was an exceptionally skilled awakened one.
"I don't know what's going on with those inside, but..."
Uttering her worries, she scanned the scene.
The hunters were steadily losing strength, and the monsters began catching up to fleeing civilians.
"Kyaaaah!"
A giant, hulking skeletal monster eventually stood before the people, hefting a massive axe.
With a wicked cry, the monster swung its axe down.
〈Frost Wind〉
At that mont.
A fierce, icy wind swept through the whole departnt store.
The axe that was about to strike a citizen's head suddenly stopped still.
At the sa ti, the entire skeletal monster turned blue and was frozen solid.
Whoooooosh—
All the skeletal monsters that the hunters were facing froze up in the sa way.
Within the hall, every monster was immobilized by the frost wind.
Karen Reyhold strode nonchalantly through the cold gusts she had conjured.
With her lifeless gaze and pale skin, she looked every bit the snow woman as she walked through a blizzard.
"Shatter."
Her voice rang silently through the cold air.
Then, the frozen monsters shattered like glass into dust, scattering on the wind.
Beautiful, sparkling motes of light drifted throughout the hall.
For a mont, those who saw this stood dazzled, lost in awe.
"Is everyone all right?"
At Karen's entrance, so like a snow woman, the people gulped dryly.
Though she resembled an undead, the power she wielded was precise and beautiful.
"It's dangerous, so please get to safety. If the gate expands any further, you may not be able to get out!"
"Thank you...!"
Upon hearing her advice, people made for the departnt store's entrance once more.
But they froze when they noticed sothing had dropped where the monsters had fallen.
"T-that's...! A skill book!"
"High-grade mana stones... How much are those worth!?"
"There's even rare equipnt materials! What do we do?"
Suddenly halting their escape, the people stared at the items on the ground.
After all, this was none other than the Golden Gate.
Here, killing even a single low-level monster could net them expensive equipnt and materials.
They had all gathered here for this event precisely to share in those spoils.
But with the sudden rampage, the event had been ruined.
And so—
"I can't believe this... This is what I ca here for!"
"Even just grabbing one thing is a gain, right?"
"How can we leave such valuables behind?!"
It was only natural they loathed to leave just like that.
Even the cheapest thing on the ground had a value well over 100 million won.
There was once-in-a-lifeti loot within reach.
No novice would just ignore high-level gear lying at their feet.
As dangerous as the area was, soone was always bound to be tempted.
"What are you doing! I told you to run!"
Angry at the citizens suddenly stooping to grab loot, Karen shouted.
It was understandable—after she'd saved them, they were brazenly ignoring her warning.
"Just a second! Let just pick this up!"
"You're saying that even while monsters are still pouring out?"
"It'll just take a second!"
People grabbing items now were completely blinded by greed.
Treasures worth hundreds of millions lay glittering underfoot, casting their spell.
They'd co here, after all, for the items—to spend precious ti at this event.
"If I go back empty-handed, my boss will be furious!"
"I might get fired!"
One could sympathize with their actions, but timing was everything.
With no sense of the urgency, they only angered Karen further.
"Why are you picking stuff up?! Survival cos first!"
So people were running for their lives, of course.
But even they hesitated for a mont, the temptation costing them precious seconds.
"Hurry, run!"
Karen scread even more desperately.
They had to get out before it was too late.
Or else—
Kugugugung—
Jijijijijik—
Suddenly the entire departnt store began to shake.
The gate, which had begun to writhe and take on unstable forms, finally expanded.
Jiriririririk—
With a grotesque noise, the Golden Gate expanded space itself, and black cracks spread through the air.
As these space-ripping fissures widened, black energy leaked from the gate.
Every wall in the departnt store was instantly dyed black.
"What now?"
Those running for the exit forced themselves to ignore it and pressed on.
But the exit doors, now black as well, turned insubstantial as soon as anyone grasped them.
"What's this?"
It felt as if they were touching nothing—like grasping at liquid darkness.
People, shrugging off doubts, dashed on through.
Thinking they had gotten outside, they found themselves right back inside the departnt store.
"Huh?"
"What's going on?"
No matter how many tis they tried, it was the sa.
Even passing through the walls, they ca right back to where they'd started.
"Ha... It's too late now."
"What...?"
"That's why I told you to run!"
Freezing a monster into an ice block, Karen shouted at the people.
A rampaging gate caused severe side effects within a certain spatial range.
Anyone trapped within that range found themselves returned to the interior, no matter how they tried to get out.
This was information Karen knew about rampaging gates.
In short—
"You're trapped in here."
"..."
There was exactly one way out.
Wait until the rampaging gate stabilized.
Karen didn't know how many days that might take.
If she had to guess, it could be more than a week.
"Honestly, I ought to leave you all to die..."
They'd ignored her warnings and now it was their own fault.
〈Low Wind〉
Nevertheless, Karen used a wind-based skill to herd everyone into one corner.
Then she raised a massive ice wall, forming a great do of ice.
As long as they stayed inside, they'd be safe from the monsters' attacks.
"You people...! You'd better be grateful I'm with The World."
She threatened, implying she'd have killed them all herself otherwise.
Standing tall, she faced the ever-multiplying monsters.
—Gireek.
—Gireerik.
Monsters, making strange noises, charged at Karen.
Seeing this, Karen threw off her suit jacket and ground her teeth.
"Fine. Let's see how far we can go!"
.
.
About an hour passed since the Golden Gate went berserk.
Monsters were still pouring out, and one woman—who looked like a corpse—was fighting them all alone.
With the other hunters exhausted, she was the only one left able to fight.
"Who is that woman? Doesn't she get tired?"
So people watched the raging blizzard from afar.
McLean Kang and Eric Ruin.
They were monitoring the situation from a car in a distant parking lot.
Knowing that staying inside would an getting trapped, they'd evacuated early.
"I don't know who she is, but she looks like a hunter from The World. Judging by her magic power readings, she's S-rank."
"S-rank, huh? That could be a problem."
They'd believed that sending the Golden Gate berserk would cause casualties.
There was a possibility that Ma Seongjin's family would be among those casualties.
But if an S-rank hunter kept blocking monsters there, all their plans could co to nothing.
"Tsk. So, is Ma Seongjin's family in there?"
By chance, one of their drones had made it into the ice do Karen ford.
Checking the footage inside, Eric shook his head.
"I don't see them."
"Then where are they?"
Surely, no one could have exited the departnt store.
Sending out more than ten stealth drones, they scoured every store inside.
That's when—
"Hey, what the hell!"
The rampaging gate suddenly began to calm.
The spatial fissures around the gate slowly closed.
The black energy that had flooded the departnt store was also vanishing.
"Why is it suddenly like that? It was rampaging properly just a mont ago!"
"I don't get it either."
The Holy Church's people had triggered the rampage device inside the Golden Gate.
Until now, everything had gone as planned.
But if the gate cald down, it would all be for naught.
"What the hell is Holy Church doing inside?"
"Wait! Look at that!"
Just then, so people began erging from the subsiding Golden Gate.
They were hunters unrelated to Holy Church, not cultists as expected.
"Why are only those guys coming out...?"
Without spotting their targets, the two n were dumbfounded.
Among the hunters coming out was Yoo Cheon-hwa of the Angel Guild.
And that boy was there too.
"That bastard...!"
"He's alive!"
Ma Seongjin walked out of the gate, unhard.
Seeing Ma Seongjin unscathed, Eric and McLean clenched their teeth.
The gate had stopped rampaging, and Ma Seongjin was fine.
"God damn it!"
A curse escaped their lips before they knew it.
They bitterly resented the useless Holy Church cultists.
What the hell had happened inside the Golden Gate?
"Wait. Hold up."
"What?"
"I found them! There they are!"
At that mont, the drone caught sight of people who appeared to be Ma Seongjin's family.
Zooming in, they could confirm it was indeed his family.
With them were a red-haired, horned girl and a pink-haired girl with fox ears, too.
"That's Han Suyeon—his mother, and Ma Yunhee—his younger sister."
"The location?"
"Departnt store basent. What do we do?"
"What do you think?"
It seed they'd chosen the basent while looking for an escape route.
The rampaging gate had abruptly cald, but Holy Church's people were nowhere to be seen.
Now, the chance to get Ma Seongjin during the rampaging gate chaos was gone for good.
In this situation, there was only one thing left they could do.
"We'll have to move ourselves."
They had prepared a backup plan, in case things went awry.
As the two of them erged from the car, they were t by a crowd of rcenaries.
Clad from head to toe in strange armor, they looked like they'd stepped out of a sci-fi film.
Eric and McLean barked orders at them.
"Those're the ones."
"Catch them and cut off their heads."
"Don't forget whose hands made the gear you're wearing."
As presidents of a hunter equipnt distribution company, they had poured all their resources into making this gear.
All to erase Ma Seongjin and his family.
"That guy murdered our children!"
"So don't go easy even if they're just civilians!"
At these words, the rcenaries silently disappeared in a flash.
Eric and McLean, anwhile, grabbed sniper rifles and knives from the back of their car.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
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