“What is it? Do you know him?”

He asked, thinking that Geon-joo was now recognizing even snakes, but his expression only hardened further. He seemed so shocked he couldn’t even think of a reply.

There’s no way I wouldn’t know a monster that he knows.

With a few exceptions, Sa-yoon had stuck to Geon-joo with an almost obsessive persistence. Even the Foretold Tower that he was supposed to have cleared alone, they had ended up clearing together after his meeting with the System. There was rarely a gap in their information. That left only one possibility.

The Underworld. Sa-yoon didn’t know everything that had happened there. He was just about to press him for details.

Shhheeeeee.

A chilling, metallic sound echoed. The snake, which had only poked its head out, now fully emerged from the temple. A massive shadow fell over the group, plunging the area into darkness. It was only then that they truly grasped just how enormous it was, how massive and solid its body was.

Ssssss. Its forked tongue flicked out as its gaze swept over the entire party. The Awakeners, meeting its reptilian, slitted pupils, instinctively drew upon all their power, their auras flaring to life. It was a defense mechanism, a refusal to be overwhelmed. Their bodies, which had been teetering on the edge of carelessness, found their center, and a palpable tension took root beneath their feet.

—Keeeeeeeeek.

The snake, as if surveying its surroundings, stretched its body and scrutinized them all, its eyes narrowing. It felt as if their bodies had turned transparent. The gaze seemed to look past their intentions, straight into the depths of their souls. Sa-yoon felt a sense of familiarity.

It was similar to the feeling he got when he stood before Lee Jaehee and the God.

Their commonality was their ability to see through heavenly energy, the very essence of a person. Which meant the snake before them had a similar ability. It was called the last guardian of the temple, wasn’t it? The ‘last’ usually meant the strongest, so it was a fitting title.

“Everyone, focus. Don’t do anything reckless.”

Mi-jeong warned in a low voice. Just as Sa-yoon had acknowledged, the other Noah members also recognized that the snake before them was no ordinary foe.

That was why no one made a rash move. As they exchanged only breaths and glances, each trying to read the other’s next move, Geon-joo, who had been frozen since the snake’s appearance, moved backward.

Shhhk!

A metallic hiss came from the snake’s mouth. In that instant, a drop of purple saliva fell from its maw.

K-K-K-KRAKAKAKA!

The ground tore apart as if a giant excavator had been turned on, and the snake’s face was suddenly right in front of them.

Their eyes widened at the abruptly close face. At the same time, Lee Jaehee’s mouth fell open.

“Mr. Sa-yoon!”

Woof!

Fenrir, using Lightning Speed, leaped into the air. Rai followed, snatching Sa-yoon and Geon-joo by the collars of their clothes and somersaulting in mid-air. The two managed to escape the point of impact by a hair’s breadth.

BOOOOOM!

The snake’s head slammed into the empty space. Sa-yoon, whose reaction had been slow due to using half his strength to search for the temple, only registered the situation a moment later. His jaw dropped.

What the hell is that thing?

It was fast. So fast that even Sa-yoon, who prided himself on being second to none in agility among the S-ranks, had missed it for a moment. No matter how exhausted he was, no matter how distracted by Geon-joo’s movement, to not even perceive the action itself was a different story.

His sense of caution sharpened to a razor’s edge.

“Put us down, Rai.”

Whine!

With a disappointed bark, Rai set Sa-yoon and Geon-joo down a safe distance from the snake. Sa-yoon straightened his collar and tapped the dazed Geon-joo’s cheek to snap him out of it. After confirming that his eyes had refocused, he turned to look at the snake. The creature, having lost its targets, was now relentlessly attacking Mi-jeong and Yi-han.

BOOOOOM!

Just before the attack landed, Yi-han’s sword blocked the snake’s head. The clash of blade against hard scales sent sparks flying. A fierce struggle of strength ensued, but it was Yi-han, not the snake, who was being pushed back.

Screeeech.

His feet dragged, and Yi-han’s center of balance faltered. His back bent as if it would break.

“Yi-han!”

As the onlookers, sensing the danger, rushed forward, a black hand shot out and grabbed the snake’s neck as if to choke it. It was Mi-jeong’s spell.

“Don’t be a fool! Get out of there!”

At Mi-jeong’s sharp rebuke, Yi-han, who had been enduring the snake’s weight with veins popping on his forehead, rolled away. The black hand, now left to fend for itself, didn’t last long. Thump! It was crushed beneath the snake, writhing.

Kieeeeeek!

The snake thrashed its head and let out a monstrous shriek. Ho-cheol, Taeseok, and Dong-ju looked on in shock, seeing that it was completely unharmed. They seemed to have come to the same conclusion as Sa-yoon.

“We shouldn’t have underestimated an S-rank gate.”

Sa-yoon clicked his tongue as he saw Ho-cheol, who had run to block the creature from lunging at Mi-jeong again, sacrifice an arm. Ho-cheol’s arm, caught in the snake’s maw, was turning a shockingly rapid shade of purple.

It was poison.

A very fast-acting one.

“Don’t move too much! We have an antidote potion!”

“Switching roles!”

Dong-ju pulled out a potion while Taeseok pushed Ho-cheol aside and took his place, intercepting the snake. Mi-jeong, who would have been in grave danger if Ho-cheol’s intervention had been even a moment later, picked up her fallen fan, her expression grim.

—Keeeeeeeeek!

The snake, caught by Taeseok, thrashed its body wildly, sending the S-rank hunter flying like a piece of paper. The now-recovered Yi-han and Dong-ju filled the gap and looked back at Jaehee.

“What are we supposed to do with this snake?!”

It was chaos. A battlefield filled with shouts and shrieks. Sa-yoon drew his sword. It seemed a casual approach wouldn’t work. As he prepared for a serious fight, the thought that the rank designation was wrong crossed his mind.

The power and pressure displayed by the snake before them were at least on the level of an S+-rank gate.

And as if reading his thoughts, a blue system window appeared before everyone. As the notifications popped up, time seemed to slow down, and the snake’s movements became sluggish, as if it were under a debuff. Sa-yoon’s gaze dropped to the blue window, which had appeared far too late.

“Of course.”

It was the notification he had expected.

• Double stat points received upon clearing the gate.
• 50% increase in the probability of receiving the highest-grade reward upon successful clear.
• 20% increase in stamina stat in all SS-rank gates for 7 days.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

The system notifications appeared so rapidly that anyone would have thought it was an error. The sheer noise was enough to be mentally jarring, but the content was even more so.

“SS-rank?”

Taeseok’s bewildered voice, as he pushed himself up from where he had been slammed into the ground, proved it.

The change in the gate’s rank was absurd enough, but for that rank to be the never-before-seen SS-rank, his reaction was understandable. As if to prove that the new rank was no lie, the snake let out a roar that was hard to believe could come from a reptile.

K-K-K-KRAKAGANG!

A terrifying sonic boom echoed, and a vicious energy washed over the Awakeners. If anyone below S-rank had set foot in this space, they would have been sent flying long ago.

“Dammit. There was a reason this was an uncleared gate.”

“We were never told anything about this in the first place. This is the first time a gate’s rank has ever changed.”

“…Does this mean no one has ever discovered the temple since the gate was created?”

The Noah members exchanged confused words.

The Forgotten Temple.

Sa-yoon, with a hardened expression, mulled over the rather grand name for a gate. He heard Dong-ju’s mutter and changed his line of thought. He replayed how he and Geon-joo had found the temple, and a dry laugh escaped him.

So there was a reason.

He now understood why his illusions had appeared here. This place, this gate, was designed for him and Han Geon-joo to clear. And it was designed in such a way that it couldn’t be cleared without obtaining the Demigod Body ability.

That’s why it was an uncleared gate. Because no one else could have found the temple. Because if it hadn’t been him and Han Geon-joo, no one would have been able to sense the temple’s energy.

“Life never gives you a moment to be bored.”

He felt like he deserved at least one day off, but the system seemed to loathe rest and relaxation.

Should he consider this a provision or a trap?

The fact that his video had been released from here was as good as the system summoning him. He couldn’t tell if it was the machinations of the main gods or a plan by the God of Wisdom to grant him the first discoverer privileges, but either way, it was unwelcome.

His gaze naturally shifted to Lee Jaehee. It felt like he would know something, but his silence suggested it was either a fact they had to discover for themselves or a truth that carried a great risk.

Well then, there was no other choice.

“We’ll find the answers once we clear it.”

Having roughly grasped the situation, Sa-yoon briefly entrusted the rampaging snake to the Noah members and grabbed Geon-joo’s cheeks. He forced his head up to meet his gaze, and Geon-joo’s wavering eyes, which had been unsteady since he first saw the snake, finally focused on him.

He’s completely out of it.

He seemed to be seeing some kind of illusion. Sa-yoon squeezed his cheeks harder.

“Snap out of it, Han Geon-joo. What are you going to do if you get shaken by every little thing like this? Get a grip and tell me what that thing is.”

From Geon-joo’s reaction, it was clear that the snake was related to him.

“Come to think of it, your Demigod Body power was a snake too, wasn’t it?”

At the pointed question, the dazed look in his eyes cleared, and he slowly nodded.

“It’s… It’s my snake.”

His voice was hoarse, as if he had just woken from a deep sleep, but the answer was sufficient. Sa-yoon, now holding a definite clue as to who this gate was connected to, turned back to the snake. The Noah members were being pushed to their limits. If it weren’t for Lee Jaehee, the tide would have turned long ago.

It seemed his time for slacking off was over. Just as Sa-yoon was about to move, Geon-joo grabbed his arm.

“…I have to do it. I don’t think this can be cleared without me.”

“What?”

“Demigod Body. Let me borrow it.”

At the unexpected words, which had skipped all explanation, Sa-yoon raised an eyebrow. In that moment, Geon-joo, now completely free from his trance, leaned in and kissed him.