03. Guild Fair (9)

The concentration of magic and the opening of the gate happened almost simultaneously.

Unusually fast completion of the gate. Before I even have time to think about what the situation is, monsters pour out from inside the gate.

It wasn’t just soldiers wearing armor. Giant savages taller than 2m, winged pterodactyls and hordes of rotting corpses.

Eldoras, Titan, Wingland, Necropolis….

Not only in Korea, but also to the gates of towers overseas.

Why is the gate open? I canceled the auction and found their location.

Could it be that Cha Soo-hyeok failed?

Or are you saying that 10,000 won doesn’t matter what the goal is, as long as it’s just an indiscriminate slaughter?

I knew they were crazy, but they were a really crazy group beyond my imagination.

“Damn it!”

The hunter who was right in front of the entrance shouted swear words and ran towards the main entrance of the exhibition hall.

As a true pro hunter, he has the physical ability to break through in the blink of an eye at only 10 meters.

But no matter how much he pushed and kicked at the front door, the door wouldn’t budge.

“What, what! Why not open! Open it! Open it!”

Boom! Bang! A door that doesn’t even move even if you hit the door with all your might with the power of an Awakener.

It’s supposed to be an ordinary iron gate, but it doesn’t even look warped. That was never a normal situation.

“Open, open, open!”

All sorts of monsters swarm behind him as he desperately struggles in front of the door. Hunter’s expression contorted with despair.

“Oh no! aaagh!!”

「Kieee!!」

A hunter who is surrounded by many monsters and can’t even resist properly, screaming in pain.

I couldn’t look any further, so I bit my teeth and looked away.

“It’s dangerous here. Let’s move.”

Baek Ji-soo just nodded silently.

I grabbed her hand and ran to the center of the exhibition hall.

It was because most of the hunters were already flocking to the center due to the open gates on all sides.

It looked like they all gathered in the center after sneaking back to avoid the monsters that escaped from the gate rather than forming a specific camp… A group is safer than sitting in a corner.

The hunters gathered in the center each picked up their own equipment even in the middle of a panic.

“What the hell is this situation! Gates without notice in New Seoul!”

“Shut up and take out your weapon! Prepare for battle!”

“Wait a minute! Look over there! Boss!”

A hunter points to the southern gate connected to Necropolis.

Amid the pouring hordes of ghouls and zombies, a woman with a translucent body was floating in the air above her, glaring at a living being with her eyes full of resentment.

The floor boss of the 3rd floor of Necropolis. It was a semi-S-class boss monster like the shadow I fought against in the library one day.

“Crazy… You’re a Banshee!? S class! I need an S-class!”

The hunter in light clothes drew her sword and shouted, but no answer came back.

Because everyone knew. That here, let alone S-class, even A-class was only a handful of numbers.

Four gates opened at the same time, and one boss even appeared. To make matters worse, most of the people gathered at the fairgrounds were hunters from small and medium guilds belonging to the B and C classes.

Annihilation. Naturally, the word seemed to pop into everyone’s head.

Baek Ji-soo bit his lower lip and took out his cane.

“Binary.”

I suppressed my fear and answered in a tense voice.

“… Why?”

“You can run away.”

“What?”

“Spatial transfer is possible.”

At those words, I hardened my expression with a serious expression.

Spatial transfer is possible. That was never a good thing.

As if to prove his words, the wizard, wearing an expensive-looking staff and fancy robes, screamed in panic.

“This is crazy. I will run away!”

Flash! One wizard disappeared from the spot with a halo of light. With one gone, the second was easier.

“… Me, I’ll call in rescue from the outside too! Wait until then!”

“You bastard, where are you going! Take me too!”

As a cloud of light continued between the hunters, the magicians who knew how to teleport fled out of the venue.

Even knowing how to use high-level magic, space transfer, means that he was a high-level magic hunter.

From armored soldiers and magic-vulnerable giants to flying monsters and undead… It was a situation where wizards were more desperate than ever, but in an instant, the wizard’s power was cut in half.

The situation has become even more unfavorable.

Baek Ji-soo closed her eyes and opened them as if she noticed something.

“… It’s a barrier. It is also very malicious.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s easy to get out of the interior with space transfer, but not from the outside. Once you go out, you can’t come back.”

In that case, it meant that it was difficult to expect support from outside.

Using analysis, I counted the number of hunters by eye.

‘About 300 people.’

Looking at it roughly, there are about 50 B-class people… Most of them are below C grade. Fortunately, except for the Necropolis gate, the other three are also low-level gates below C-level.

Even so, in an open space like this, you have to fight against monsters pouring in from all directions while protecting civilians… It was clear that the situation was very unfavorable.

I asked as if to confirm, holding the hilt of the three-person sword tightly.

“Can I stop this?”

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Jisoo Baek looked around and opened his mouth as if he noticed something. The voice was heavier than usual.

“It will be difficult. Their strength is inferior, but most of the hunters don’t even have weapons.”

A hopeless observation.

That was natural. No matter how professional hunters are allowed to carry equipment, weapons and armor are very heavy.

Because of the cost of item crystals, unless you are a high-ranking hunter, you can’t even dream of it, and you don’t even want to climb the tower, so there’s no reason to come with your equipment fully set.

I was in a situation where I wanted to barely serve one person even with a weapon, but half of the hunters were unarmed and the other half were barely equipped with light equipment.

An expression of hopelessness prevailed on people’s faces.

“Binary.”

Baek Ji-soo quietly called my name.

Her expression was full of hesitation as she turned her head to confirm what was going on. She was very conflicted as to whether she should say this.

“My space transfer is possible for up to two people.”

“What?”

“If you want….”

She didn’t finish her words, but you could tell from the look on her face what she was about to say.

I could run away if I wanted to. Maybe that’s what it means.

I wonder if the reason I couldn’t bear to say it was because of the guilt of leaving so many people alone.

It didn’t even take long to think about it. The battle had already begun in the outskirts.

“Get your mind right! Everyone is going to die here! Grab a shield and line up!”

A man who appears to be a guild leader raises his shield and strongly urges his guild members. Her sense of magic was A-class, but her equipment barely matched B-class.

In another corner, a long-haired woman with her hair tied back pulled the string of her bow and raised her voice.

“We are committed to rear fire! Everyone tune in to my signal!”

Most of them gathered in guild units and prepared for the monster wave. However, not all the hunters gathered here belonged to a guild.

Most of the hunters run away from being chased by monsters. Some Hunters, who did not belong to the line, nor were they skilled or well-equipped, gave up fighting and hid among the civilians.

“… ….”

What will happen to all those people if they pretend not to know and run away?

Maybe they’ll fight better than you think, maybe rescue will arrive sooner than expected.

If I had only one left, it might not be of much help.

Baek Ji-soo calmly said, as if driving a wedge into that thought.

“Terrorism has happened and cannot be stopped now. If you stay here, you’ll most likely die. What do you want to do?”

She had the attitude that if I wished, she would use space transfer right away.

“… Wasn’t it your purpose to save people?”

At my words, Baek Ji-soo frowned as if in pain, and after a short silence, struggled to open her mouth.

“Because those who live must live.”

That was the voice of a person who had already experienced a lot of giving up.

Did she go through this countless times in the midst of destruction?

It’s better than dying here.

Let’s live and promise the next time.

Have you lived your life giving up on the deaths of so many people that you couldn’t help?

Did I abandon the future and return to the past because there was nothing I could throw away after throwing away, discarding, discarding like that?

I had no choice but to look at reality, and while pretending to be cool, she gave the girl who looked the most distressed a foolish smile.

“Don’t worry too much.”

Baek Ji-soo looks up at me with a puzzled face at the sudden remark.

“It’s never too late to run away after you’ve done everything you can.”

“… I’m so optimistic. The battlefield, the moment you are careless, you die right away.”

Baek Ji-soo said firmly as if he had seen so many dead people.

I shook my head slowly.

“It would be like that if I fought alone. But Baek Ji-soo is there, and Seo-hee is there too. I have a weapon, so I’ll do my part, and if you hold on until you can, you might think of another way.”

I didn’t want to give up like this.

I didn’t want to let her give up again and again in front of her because she was accustomed to her resignation.

“I promised that the three of us would do our best, but I don’t want to run away without doing my best yet.”

At this point, she confessed her regression to me in order to ask for help.

The person who said he would help at that time was myself, not anyone else.

She listened to me and mumbled a small mutter to herself as she lowered her gaze.

“… Also, you… Perhaps….”

“What?”

“Yeah, nothing.”

Baek Ji-soo carefully placed her palm on my chest. Then, a pure white mana wrapped around my body.

It was Baek Ji-soo’s strengthening magic that he had received once.

“Oh?”

Strength, agility, and even mana have increased significantly. This is a stat worthy of comparison even with a melee class B hunter.

Of course, I don’t have skills to use in battle, and I lack equipment compared to pro hunters, but at least I don’t have anything to lose with stats. And I don’t know anything else, but I’m prepared with a reliable weapon.

“Don’t die, Lee Jin. Never.”

I gave a confident smile mixed with bravado.

“I won’t die.”

As I pulled out my three-man sword, I slowly walked toward the direction where the group of corpses was coming out.

I wondered if I could see myself walking without any armor, just holding a sword. A hunter looked at my face and shouted in surprise.

“What are you!? You’re a child! Get back if you don’t want to die!”

I paid no heed to someone’s voice pushing me and focused my consciousness.

Sword and will are synchronized. The golden inscription on the surface shimmered softly, and the sword face trembled with a bang.

The target is the semi-S rank boss monster, Banshee.

There are no aura users and no high-ranking wizards, so it seems that no one can deal with it and run away. Now, when Banshee was distracted by hunting other hunters, was an opportunity.

“Healthy tablets (乾降精). Kun Yuanling.”

Celestials, descend.

Wake up, dear God.

“Cut the hemp.”

The knife slips out of my grip and floats in the air.

Soon, the three-man sword, which set its target, was shot as quickly as an arrow, and a halo of white magical power hung down like a tail. The three-person sword, which changed its direction close to right angle on its own and avoided obstacles, flew towards Banshee’s neck.

「Kiki-it!」

Belatedly, Banshee noticed the flying sword and stretched out his arm, but it was too late.

The outstretched Banshee’s arm was cut in half, and before long a large hole was pierced in his neck.

A unique skill of the three-person sword.

Yam(斬魔).

「Queek———!!」

A banshee screaming in death. However, perhaps because of the hole in his throat, the sound had no effect and only produced an empty wind noise.

The three-man sword, which pierced Banshee’s neck and spun in the air, returned to my hand like a boomerang.

At the same time, the banshee collapsed helplessly to the ground.

“… What?”

“The Banshee… ?”

All the hunters around me look back at me.

His gaze was filled with astonishment at the unbelievable situation.