[Defeat the Bone Dragon]

After driving away the reporters who had fearlessly camped out in front of the Gate, and after concluding the kind of interview that everyone else would just call “bad luck,” Sa-yoon entered. A blue notification window popped up in every party member’s vision. Sa-yoon turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the Association hunters, who were already swallowing nervously.

Are the numbers roughly the same as the Gate Break? With about thirty from Sa-yoon’s side and thirty from the Association, their total was around sixty, but this was no dramatic increase in combat power compared to the Abaddon Gate. Unlike the Night Rats guild members, whose faces were either calm from their previous SSS-Rank clear or burning with fighting spirit, the Association hunters looked as if they’d been forcibly dragged here. Their faces were gaunt, as if they were already staring death in the face.

Who in their right mind would look at that lot and call them heroes, brimming with a profound sense of duty to protect mankind? How many S-Ranks did they say were among them? Two? Three?

It didn’t matter how many. The important thing was that, in Sa-yoon’s eyes, only two of them looked remotely useful enough to be called S-Rank: Lee Han and Kang Han-seok. Lee Han’s skill needed no further explanation, and Kang Han-seok was, in terms of sheer power, one of the pillars supporting the Association. Aside from those two, it wouldn’t be strange to treat the rest as non-combatants.

And they guaranteed a clear with these guys. Sa-yoon let out a hollow scoff, his gaze shifting to the man standing at the very back of the Association’s line, staring his way. It was Min-cheol, who had insisted on coming, stubbornly ignoring everyone who tried to stop him.

“It’s been a while since you were on the front lines. You think you can handle it?”

“Is there any reason I can’t?”

“Well, we’re about to find out, aren’t we?”

It was no easy thing, jumping back into a Gate after retiring. Sa-yoon respected Min-cheol’s choice. He signaled for his guild members to arm themselves. The Night Rats members immediately equipped their main weapons. Machine guns, flamethrowers, bombs, hidden blades… an arsenal of bizarre and unconventional weaponry that no “normal” hunter would ever use poured from their inventories. The Association hunters’ eyes went wide.

“By the way, are SSS-Rank Gates always this… empty?” Min-cheol asked, looking around at the endless sand dunes, as if an entire desert had been transplanted here. Just like with Abaddon, Sa-yoon found himself in a vast, sprawling domain. He looked up at the empty sky.

“It’s not empty. It’s just ‘about to be here’.”

“What?”

“Activating the video stone, then.”

It was no fun to spoil what was coming, so he just gave a vague hint and activated the stone. Jing. The video stone in his hand vibrated once and began to record. Almost immediately, the clear sky above them began to crack.

“Look, up there!” the Association hunters yelled in alarm.

“Here it comes.”

Sa-yoon, having experienced this before, waited for the familiar sight. Presently, from the rift in the sky, an angel with wings even larger than the one he’d seen before emerged and unfurled them wide.

Aaaaaah…

A song spilled from the angel’s lips. The humming, both sweet and achingly desperate, slammed into their minds.

“Uuuaaargh!”

“What is this…!”

“There’s a debuff that seals skills?”

The hunters, who had clapped their hands over their ears in agony from the melody that threatened to overwhelm the Gate, now stared at the notification window with trembling eyes. Those who had lost a primary skill fell into despair, while those who had lost a less important one just stared at the angel, their faces pale with terror.

Angels were typically remembered as a species friendly to humans. To see one descend as a servant of God, singing of the end times, was a sight shocking enough to break a weaker mind.

Sa-yoon, on the other hand, was relatively unaffected. He calmly checked his sealed skill list. Assassination. That’s manageable. He nudged Han Geon-joo. “What’d you lose?”

Geon-joo frowned. “Survival Instinct,” he confessed.

Now, that’s a problem.

It was rare for Geon-joo to even need Survival Instinct, as he was rarely in mortal danger, but the skill was practically a second life for him. Going without it felt like a bad omen. A dark premonition began to creep in, and Sa-yoon shook his head to clear it, meeting Geon-joo’s eyes.

“Stay sharp and fight. You remember my warning, right?”

“I’ll do my best to fight in human form.”

“Good.”

He didn’t think Geon-joo would fail, so Sa-yoon mentally promised to back him up—a promise of aid that Geon-joo, of course, had not agreed to.

“Hyung, don’t do anything unnecessary. Just save your error progression rate. You haven’t forgotten we still have two more of these ordeals, have you?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Don’t just brush it off.”

“Who do you think you’re using informal tone with?” Sa-yoon hissed, pulling Geon-joo’s ear. They had to keep their voices low so the video stone wouldn’t pick up their conversation. This hushed, intense exchange caused the Association hunters to start stealing glances, their eyes clearly saying they thought some grand, secret strategy was being shared.

Sa-yoon glanced at them, then jutted his chin toward the sky. “You won’t have time to stare at us. It’s starting.”

“Starting? Wasn’t that angel the monster?”

A monster? As if. It was an impossibly naive comment. Sa-yoon just snorted and told Min-cheol he’d see soon enough.

The sixth angel then produced a trumpet from its back.

Buuuuuuuuuuh!

A sound like a colossal ship’s horn shook the Gate to its foundations. Buuuuuuh! Buuuuuuh! After the third blast, the ground itself began to heave.

“Up! Into the air!” Sa-yoon roared, launching himself upward. The Night Rats guild members shot into the sky as one, while the Association hunters awkwardly scrambled to follow.

Drrrrr…

Something erupted from the trembling ground. It was not just one.

—KIEEEEK! 

—KIAAAAAA!

Dozens, then hundreds of holes tore open in the desert floor, and from them emerged winged monsters: massive, heavy-bodied creatures with hooked talons like a reptile’s, long vertical pupils, and sharp, triangular snouts.

“It’s Wyverns! They’re Wyverns!”

“Wyverns? Aren’t those just S-Rank Gate monsters?”

“This is doable!”

Having identified the enemy, the Association hunters’ spirits lifted, and they shouted with newfound confidence.

But Sa-yoon and Geon-joo’s expressions remained grim. They were busy counting the number of Wyverns still pouring out. Five hundred, at least. And…

“A bigger one is coming.”

There was still something else under the ground, a monster with a far stronger presence. It was making no effort to hide its status, and any hunter with decent skill couldn’t help but feel it. As some hunters drew their weapons to engage the swarming Wyverns, and others kept a wary eye on the ground, the massive things began to move.

Kwagagagagak!

The sand exploded upward as if an earth dragon were surfacing, revealing the forms of the creatures that had been lurking below.

“A Lord…?”

“Can there be that many Lords?”

“…That’s not a Lord! It’s not a Lord!”

As if to confirm the hunter’s desperate cry, a system notification appeared.

The first-discovery achievement rewards popped up rapidly. Wyvern Nation and Noble Wyvern. Those two names were all Sa-yoon needed to grasp the situation. He looked up at Lee Jae-hee, who was circling on his griffon.

“Lee Jae-hee!”

“Acknowledged! Analyzing now!” Already understanding the unspoken command, Jae-hee banked his griffon, flying swiftly to get a look at the monsters.

“The ones with jewels embedded in their foreheads are the Nobles!” Lee Jae-hee shouted, his voice rapid-fire. “The more jewels, the higher the rank: Baron, Count, then Duke! The Lords have a crest instead of jewels! Be careful!”

Having eyes that can see the heavens is damn convenient at times like this, Sa-yoon thought. He drew his own sword, then grabbed Han Geon-joo’s shoulder just as he was about to move.

“You wait. You know what you need to do, right?”

“Conserve my strength?”

“Right.”

The true master of this Gate had not yet appeared. If the Watchmen of the End all followed a similar pattern, the Bone Dragon  would only show itself after the Wyvern legion had taken a certain amount of damage. He needed to keep his greatest weapon in reserve.

***

Since Sa-yoon himself had to move conservatively to manage his error progression rate, the strongest fighter among their sixty-person party was, without question, Geon-joo. Holding him back, Sa-yoon summoned his executives.

“Lee Han, Kang Han-seok, and Min-cheol will move out. Leave the regular Wyverns to the other hunters. We will target the Nobles. The Association team will take Red. You guys take Black. I’ll take Blue. Lee Jae-hee will provide overall support; call to him if you need help.”

“Hyung-nim, you’re taking all the Blue Wyvern Nobles alone? Jae-hee said it was three Nobles and a Lord. Isn’t four too many?”

“It seems doable.”

Sa-yoon said this with a slow, deliberate smile. His executives, who knew all too well that that smile meant he either had a plan or was about to do something batshit crazy that no sane person could predict, just nodded with weary, “sick of this” expressions.

“Then, for our team: Chan-hee takes the Count, Gyeongjin the Baron, I’ll take the Duke, and Jongsik-hyung-nim gets the Lord. We’re moving out?”

“Whatever. Go.”

He nodded, and the Night Rats executives moved out as one. Midway, Gyeongjin let out a shriek about how he wasn’t even combat personnel, so why did he have to take the Baron. Yen, who had promised to “rescue him if he held it down well,” just smirked and dragged the flailing Gyeongjin into the air. Sa-yoon watched them go, then turned his gaze to the four massive Blue Wyverns circling in the sky.

“You’ll be alright on your own?” Min-cheol asked.

“Yeah.”

“It would be easier if you had Han Geon-joo with you.”

“He’s precious. I have to save him.”

Lee Han and Min-cheol’s faces twisted at his bland reply. Sa-yoon shooed the three of them away toward the Red Wyverns as if they were insects, and then downed a mana potion. His mana, already at its limit, surged into a state of supersaturation. He closed his eyes, opened them, and his lips moved.

“Be thou great.”

He hadn’t recited the mantra in a while. Divine power coiled around his body. He channeled all of it into his legs, kicked off the air itself, and pinpointed the Blue Wyvern with the crest on its head. The moment their eyes met, the creature opened its crimson maw and blasted him with a Fear attack. Sa-yoon twisted to avoid it and continued his charge straight at the Wyvern Lord.

He moved like a bolt of lightning, the distance between them vanishing in an instant. Thump. His hand landed on the creature’s head. He was so close he could feel its breath as he spoke.

“You’re a reptile, aren’t you, you bastard?”

—KIEEEEEEEEK!

“I recently managed to tame a snake god, you see. And it’s made me greedy.”

Sa-yoon murmured, focusing his mana and divine power into his fingertips as he ratcheted up his dominant aura. A frigid, glacial energy exploded outward, enveloping both him and the Wyvern Lord in a swirling blizzard. Sa-yoon stared directly into its slit, vertical pupil and smiled like a demon.

“I’m going to try taming you, too.”