Chapter 54: Jeju Island Gate
Jeju Island gate.
After the red gate, which is the most difficult gate except for a few, appeared in Jeju City, residents evacuated en masse.
If it was a yellow or orange gate, some people would have held onto the resident count, hoping that it would be cleared, but this time it was a red gate.
If a dungeon break occurs, an entire city can be blown away in an instant.
“You’re not going to skip clearing this time, are you?”
Golden Chul, referred to the dungeon break at the Hunan Plains Gate as a political protest but Lee Yong-wan nonchalantly retorted that it wasn’t a big deal.
“If the gate’s tax-free privileges are extended, won’t you benefit from it too? I’m the one who’s supposed to be in charge, so why are you frowning?”
“Well, I’m trying to earn money as honestly as possible.”
Recently, the Korean hunter community has been buzzing about the expansion of tax-free privileges.
The first-of-its-kind tax exemption bill, which would exempt up to 1 trillion won in gate loot sales, was strongly pushed by Ten Guilds.
“It’s only a matter of time before the top 10 guilds like our Firebird Guild, Blue Star, Mujin, and Shark Guild push for it.”
Firebird, Blue Star, Mujin, and Shark throw some foreign migration news at the lawmakers they’re feeding money to and they’ll scare the shit out of them and pass the bill. It should have been…….
‘The Association is coming out strangely strong now.’
The problem was the attitude of the Association’s president, Oh Kang-hyuk. As South Korea’s first generation S-class hunter, he is a symbol of national defense.
He may be old, but his influence is greater than you’d think, and he’s been able to convince frightened defense officials and the government.
“Is it because of that lunatic, Lionheart?”
“Oh, yeah, he is definitely a lunatic.”
Yong-wan asked Golden Chul, who had seen him fight.”
“What’s your assessment of him?”
“Well, he’s a little crazy, convicted, chivalrous, but far from efficient.”
Golden Chul remembered his time at the Cheongju Gate with the Yakt Spinner.
The ridiculousness of challenging to a duel a heavily armored multi-armored vehicle on horseback. But──
“His power is real. At least stronger than me or you. An S-rank hunter is no match for him.”
“…….”
‘Even that’s a bit of a stretch.’
Even though he was the one who had destroyed the Yakt spinner, Golden Chul somehow felt that he was not powerful.
‘Considering the power of faith, even his current strength may not be his original strength…….’
Thinking about it made him feel eerie. Was it okay for humans to be so strong?
‘We should seriously consider my sister’s suggestion.’
While thinking about his sister’s suggestion, Golden Chul entered the gate.
Upon entering the red gate, he was greeted by a combined raiding party from the Firebird Guild and the Golden Lion Guild, who were in a battle stance──
“Oooh, shhhhhhhhhhhh…….”
The ‘red stones’ that make everyone admire are the most common ore found in the Gate and the resource that supports modern civilization.
“What’s with the red stones?”
“In a field gate, not a dungeon gate? This…….”
It’s a new mineral found in the bodies of monsters after clearing a gate but it doesn’t just come from monster corpses.
There are also humans and other races called NPCs in the gates, and they also leave behind their own magic ore when they die. Only certain other races and demons don’t leave them at the Gate.
It’s also a job to mine them from corpses, which is why D-rank mining teams are hired to do corpse farming…….
‘Isn’t this a level where you don’t need a mining team at all?’
‘We don’t even need to go outside the gate and call the waiting mining team.’
‘It’s not like there’s a lot of magic stones in the ground like this…….’
Yong-wan and Golden Iron Chul looked at each other and smiled greedily.
“”Golden Gate.””
Golden Gate, it’s more of a metaphor than an official name. It meant a gate that poured out gold.
Sometimes there was a gate of epic proportions, but a particularly ‘epic’ quest. To be more precise, a gate where monsters were regenerated endlessly, spewing out endless amounts of magic stones.
“Check the quest!”
Yong-wan hurriedly opened the message window. The Golden Gate has a quest that releases an enormous amount of Spirit Stones. That meant that there were ‘resources’ of that size inside the gate.
And inevitably, in order to become this large, you must…
[Quest: Save the Slaughtered].
Conditions: Defeat the field boss, Majestic Georgic.
War.
This gate is a war gate.
And──
“Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
“Please! Please, don’t kill me!”
Not too far from the entrance of the gate a certain tribe was being attacked.
* * * *
The attacked tribe was being slaughtered by knights and soldiers on horseback.
“Kill, kill──”
“Die, bastards!”
The armored soldiers mercilessly slaughtered the unresisting tribesmen.
“……What the hell, this.”
They’ve seen all sorts of incidents and ugly things happen at the gate, but they’ve never seen such a one-sided slaughter.
“Hey, since it’s a quest to save the people, is there a specific way to save them?”
“Isn’t it?”
The allied raiders immediately entered a combat stance. He didn’t know, but he wasn’t shameless enough to turn a blind eye to the slaughter.
Now is the time to save them, if only to fulfill the quest.
“Stop!”
Just as they rush to the rescue of the slaughtered villagers, dozens of knights and soldiers appear, quickly weaving their shields and halting their party.
“By the looks of their clothes, they’re not like those bums. Mercenaries.”
“Well, is that so?”
“So?”
The knight glared at the raider in the lead.
“I am Dalion Emchain, Knight Errant, second son of Viscount Emchain, Knight of the Realm, of the Viscounty of Emchain.”
“…….”
Dalion’s curious declaration didn’t deter the Alliance raiders. This side has 100 B-rank Hunters and 50 A-ranks. This is not a force to be trifled with by a mere knight and his horde.
Rather, it was Dalion and his soldiers who must retreat.
“How dare you point a sword at a knight!? I may not be an official knight, but what disrespect!”
Dalion rages, then Huang Yeonha shouted at him.
“You bastard, can’t you see you’re being outnumbered? Why don’t you just stop the slaughter?”
“Massacre? What do you mean?”`
“Uh….”
He sounded genuinely confused, and Huang Yeonha was puzzled. Could it be that they belonged to a different group than the slaughterers who attacked that tribe?
“Ah~ You mean those bastards?”
Lord Dalion, Knight Errant, made an incredulous face.
“How is killing them a massacre? They’re not people, they’re beasts. It’s not a massacre, it’s a slaughter.”
“”──?!!””
The inhabitants of the modern world exclaimed at the horrifyingly cruel declaration.
“Yeah…that’s the kind of character he is.”
Apparently, there is no room for negotiation and the raiders were relieved that their opponent was unmistakably evil.
The battle began.
A mere fifty or so knights and soldiers against a raiding party of over 150.
“Shit…!”
“Damn, these guys are strong!”
The initial charge of the knights was powerful, but it was easily blocked by the S-class tank, Golden Chul and although Golden Chul was surprised by the heavy power, the battle soon turned in favor of the raiders.
“Lord Dalion…! We must retreat! We must retreat and call upon the Kingdom Knights for support!”
“That’s impossible, Sergeant Zenma, we can’t call in the Knights for a bunch of mercenaries!”
Dalion was contorted with shame and ready to die. His whole body burned with fire, and he cast a strange spell.
“What? Magic?”
“Knights use magic?”
“He’s a magical swordsman! Fight back!”
But they are the elite of Korea’s top ten guilds.
The battle was won easily but even so, Golden Chul and Yong-wan expressions were not bright.
‘This is the level of an entry-level mob?’
‘Knights are knights, but their soldiers are also of a high level. Aren’t they minions? They can’t even compete with B-class hunters?’
It wasn’t just physical prowess. It was a mastery of group warfare. The morale of the soldiers was unbreakable, even in the face of disadvantage. And then there was──
“Hold on!”
“Arianna is watching over me!”
‘Crazy fanatics!’
Chanting the name of their god, they die.
The level is high and the momentum is strong. It was frightening.
-What the fuck, those assholes.
-Fucking terrifying.
The tired raiders stood still.
“???”
“What…?”
The air is crushed and a pressure that feels like space is being squeezed appeared as something fell from the sky.
-Thud!
It was a giant armor. No, a knight in green dye-painted armor.
All eyes turn to the green knight.
He wore green armor, a shield that covered half his body, a huge one-handed hammer, and a searing gaze through the eye holes in his helmet.
His mere presence crushes the air and overwhelms his surroundings.
“What, what, did he just fall out of the sky?”
It was a living saint, the highest-ranking knight in the kingdom, honored by the gods for his deeds and praised by the people.
He chanted.
“It is not yet time, soldiers.”
The soldiers pound the ground and sing of glory, cheered by the power of the voice.
” Georgic….”
” Georgic…!”
“The Majestic Georgic!”
“Protector of Gerhane!”
“Holy Knight of the Kingdom.”
The Holy Knight, Majestic Georgic, has arrived.
“What is that…….”
The raiders were baffled by the sudden appearance of the knight from the sky. But it didn’t take long to realize why.
“Phe, Pegasus?”
A phantasmagoric creature called a celestial horse. Winged horses have been seen at many gates and the men who rode them were all unusual.
“Is that…the majestic Georgic?”
“The Field Boss is already up?”
Although they were a little embarrassed, it wasn’t all bad because the field boss came alone.
Considering that boss monsters usually come with tons of minions, this was a lucky break.
“You are…strangers.”
Golden Chul froze at the words. Not only him, but all of the raiders dared not approach the hulking knight.
“Why have you harmed the kingdom’s army, and according to your answer, my warhammer will fall upon you.”
“What did he say-”
Huang Yeonha was cut off, and Yong-wan took the lead with a friendly smile.
“Well… there must have been a misunderstanding. Lord Dalion over there preemptively attacked us, forcing us to respond.”
“What, you lowly mercenaries-”
Dalion began, but Georgic held up a hand to stop him.
“Dalion Emchain, I warned you that your impetuosity could destroy your mission. How flippant you are in the name of the Goddess!”
“I apologize…….”
‘Oh…they’re more talkative than I thought.’
Maybe this will work.
“Your impetuosity led six honorable soldiers to the paradise of the gods, and if you were not the son of Viscount Emchain, Knight of the Realm, you would not have won their allegiance.”
“Ugh…….”
“Outsiders, I apologize on behalf of my Dalion.”
“No, I’m glad we’ve cleared up our misunderstanding.”
Of course, Yong-wan has no intention of sending Georgic away alive. He’s in apparent peace mode right now, which means he’s letting his guard down.
Field Bosses are powerful, but as long as they’re human, they can easily be dealt with if they’re like this…
“However, a lowly mercenary killed six soldiers of the kingdom. As long as you pay for it, I’ll let you live.”
“What?”
“Let’s see. Six dead, only sixty to go.”
“”…………….””
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