Things had become seriously troublesome.
Who’d have thought an Unknown would pop out of the gate saturation?
In over ten years as a hunter experiencing all sorts of gate saturations, this was a first for Sa-yoon. If he’d experienced it before, he would have been more cautious and never attempted this kind of gate conquest.
The Unknown’s appearance itself could be handled somehow. He’d just confirmed receiving a system notification about reaching B-rank. Though killing an Unknown with a B-rank body was nonsensical, he could at least buy time and guide others like Jae-hee to kill it.
So dealing with the Unknown itself wasn’t worrying.
This was Night Rats’ gate territory, and his guild members were all around. Though they said even two S-rank Awakened together couldn’t defeat an Unknown, with him providing artifacts and Night Rats guild members joining in, it wasn’t an unbeatable opponent.
However, the truly terrifying thing about Unknowns wasn’t merely their strength. Their real problem lay in how they kept reviving even after death.
Unknown.
A gate error with stats above S-rank level. If something like that was released into the world, destroying a city would be nothing.
No, would it stop at just one city?
This thing was practically immortal, reviving continuously even after death.
South Korea itself would be destroyed.
By that white reaper.
A chill ran down his spine as he foresaw the future. Why create True Evil of Humanity? Just releasing a few Unknowns into the world seemed enough to cause global destruction.
“Sa-yoon. That’s…”
“Yeah, it’s an Unknown.”
You’ve seen one before too.
Biting his lip as he spoke, Sa-yoon quickly scanned his inventory. Spring’s Dawn was obviously the best weapon against Unknowns, so he switched weapons and also donned a cloak.
[Black Warlock’s Cloak (S+)]
- The ancient black warlock sought immunity from all physical attacks. This cloak is his masterpiece containing decades of research.
- 10 seconds of invincibility when barrier activated. Limited to 10 uses per day.
- Reduces all physical damage by 50% when worn.
- Only usable by B-rank.
The Black Warlock’s Cloak. While its performance was ridiculously overpowered, he hadn’t used it since reaching A-rank due to the damn rank restriction. With performance impossible to find anywhere else, he could become instantly rich by putting it up for auction, but why would he sell this cloak unless he was crazy?
Not when it could create a troublesome B-rank that even S-ranks would hesitate to face.
A cloak he’d considered a white elephant—too precious to give away but unusable himself. After storing it away in his inventory with regret thinking he’d never use it again, Sa-yoon donned it for the first time in years and gripped his sword emitting radiance befitting its name “Dawn” while watching the Unknown. It adjusted its grip on its sickle after fully emerging from the gate.
Their eyes met, and the standoff was brief. It immediately charged at its target.
There was no need to explain who that target was. The black sickle had undeniably been aiming for him just moments ago.
“Rai!”
As he rolled to dodge the Unknown while shouting, Jae-hee’s summon, as if agreeing to cooperate just this once, instantly scooped up Sa-yoon and dashed away.
Thud!
As its legs of solid muscle kicked the ground with all their might, they became airborne. It was a jump that could be called flight. Momentarily overlapping with the bright moon above along with the Fenrir, Sa-yoon stroked Rai’s fur that truly deserved its SS-rank.
No matter how exceptional he was, being B-rank meant his movements had limits, but with Rai’s help, he could cover that weakness. The combat power lacking even with Spring’s Dawn’s 150% attack power against non-humans could be filled by using every available buff.
That would let him face the Unknown adequately even with a B-rank body.
After forming his plan, Sa-yoon mercilessly brought his dagger down toward his own hand.
Or rather, tried to.
If only a sudden hand hadn’t grabbed his wrist to stop him.
“Have you finally gone mad?”
Jae-hee, who had come beside him riding Maru, gripped Sa-yoon’s wrist and shouted. Rare for him to raise his voice, Sa-yoon frowned and knocked away Jae-hee’s hand.
Being so sensitive.
“If you don’t understand, just watch quietly, Jae-hee. No one here can handle that monster better than me.”
No one anywhere would have faced Unknowns as often as him. Unlike others who died permanently, when he met Unknowns in gates and died, he’d revive right there and have to fight them again.
He’d fought them sickeningly often and drawn several times. Unlike before, there was no one to protect this time.
No B-rank Han Geon-joo.
Not that he’d become someone needing protection either. Though his rank had dropped, he was still Kwon Sa-yoon.
Slash!
Finally, Spring’s Dawn cut his palm. Jae-hee beside him gasped, but Sa-yoon ignored it and pulled out his wire to feed it his blood.
<You have attacked a person. Murder Play activates.>
The awaited notification appeared as light enveloped Sa-yoon’s body. He could feel his physical abilities rising. Though Murder Play lowered defense when activated, that meant nothing while wearing the Black Warlock’s Cloak.
Thud, thud, thud!
Even as he enhanced his body, Fenrir Rai was nimbly jumping around avoiding the Unknown’s pursuit. Boom, boom, boom! The Unknown’s sickle couldn’t even touch the Fenrir’s tail. After seeing this, Sa-yoon turned to Jae-hee with certainty.
“Listen carefully, Jae-hee. Go get the Recluse. Tell him an Unknown got caught in gate saturation and came out into the world—he’ll understand.”
The Recluse, S-rank ranker.
A Korean hunter who concealed his identity so thoroughly that even Night Rats couldn’t discover where he came from or what he did.
To deal with an Unknown, they needed his item “Infinity.”
An item that could imprison any target for 24 hours.
That soul-bound item he’d been salivating over but couldn’t steal even by killing its owner could control an Unknown rampaging after escaping the gate.
“The Recluse—isn’t he the head of the Assassin guild?”
“Right. Their headquarters is nearby. There should be an abandoned church behind the Guryong Guild building—their base is in its basement. If you say the Night Rats guild master is looking for the Recluse, they’ll let you in.”
With the Recluse’s guild conveniently nearby, finding and bringing him shouldn’t be difficult. Since Jae-hee’s summons were faster than most transportation, they could bring him much quicker than sending his guild members.
Of course, the best would be them coming to help without us going to get them, but unfortunately, there was no way to contact them.
Fucking hell, told him to get a damn phone already.
Keeping his concept of maintaining zero contact networks and living underground meant having to go find him directly whenever needed. Muttering about him being strange and having a heavy ass, Sa-yoon gripped Rai’s fur tightly as the Unknown suddenly accelerated.
“It’s gotten faster. We need to move faster.”
Woof!
Rai barked in response and moved even faster than before. However, the Unknown’s speed increased similarly, so it didn’t have much effect. Since he’d expected this, Sa-yoon bit his lip and looked at the man wearing a thoughtful expression. The Unknown learned about its opponents as battles dragged on, so prolonging the fight would disadvantage him.
“The Recluse will know what to do when you tell him to bring the cube! If you understand, go quickly!”
“If I leave, the summons’ power will weaken.”
Because summons were soul-bound to their summoners, they exhibited more power the closer they were to their masters. If Jae-hee went far away, they’d only be able to use 50% of their power in the worst case.
But were they in any position to be picky?
He had to somehow send Jae-hee to bring the Recluse.
“Doesn’t matter, just go quickly. The longer you delay, the more that thing will rampage.”
Think of it as one more corpse added every second you’re late.
Though it was currently fixated on him and staying within the barricade area, if its aggro on him somehow broke, that’s when disaster would begin.
To maintain its aggro, he needed to land effective hits, so Sa-yoon lowered his upper body on Rai’s back.
“We’ll counter-attack at that corner. Understand?”
Woof!
“Then use Lightning Speed to move!”
Kang!
With the bark, Rai’s body flashed brilliantly! After instantly moving over a kilometer, Sa-yoon looked back at Jae-hee who had become tiny as a bean and shouted:
“If you’re not back in 30 minutes, know that you’ll die and everyone here will die too!”
Only after this savage warning did the now-tiny figure move on his summon. Sa-yoon briefly watched the man’s back as he dashed toward the Assassin guild before gripping Rai’s fur as they approached the corner.
Woof!
Understanding the signal, Rai alternately bounded off both walls to soar into the sky. The pursuing Unknown turned the corner and momentarily hesitated at its vanished prey. Not missing this opening, Sa-yoon jumped up using Rai’s back as a springboard, gripping Spring’s Dawn in his left hand and Heris’s Dagger in his right as he channeled his strength.
Of course, that wasn’t all.
Wire that he’d fed his blood to earlier to make sharp enough to cut even the Unknown’s arms without difficulty had been set up throughout the alley. With deadly poison applied, no less. Its effect appeared immediately as the Unknown spotted him and turned its body.
Slash!
The sharp wire instantly dug into the Unknown’s arms, legs, and torso.
<You’ve inflicted first damage on opponent through curse, deception, etc. Special trait ‘Dirty Play’ activated.>
Hearing the notification for the trait that increased attack power by 10% during ambush and accumulated tokens the dirtier you fought, Sa-yoon descended toward the wire-bound Unknown gripping two swords.
Flash! Heris’s Dagger absorbed moonlight, showing off its sharp edge.
“Rai, bite its legs!”
Shouting at the top of his lungs, Sa-yoon plunged both swords into the Unknown’s head while chanting the activation word.
BOOM!
The combined attacks of Spring’s Dawn and Heris’s Repentance created an explosive roar. His B-rank body, unable to withstand the powerful explosion’s aftermath, was blown back by the wind. Rising after rolling on the ground, Sa-yoon smiled as he confirmed the Unknown’s form dimly visible in the gray clouds.
Fuck. At least show some sign of pain.
It sent chills through him how the Unknown stood firmly despite losing one leg to the wire and Rai, and having its head half-blown off by his attack.
About 28 minutes left until Jae-hee returns.
Sa-yoon staggered up using the wall for support, mounted Rai who had come to his side, and took a breath.
Right, let’s see how this goes.
This was a B-rank’s counterattack. Fucking error bastard.