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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 13
Gates are classified into six danger levels, ranging from E to S.
An E-rank hunter typically tackles an E-rank Gate, a D-rank hunter challenges a D-rank Gate, and so on.
Each rank is further divided into ten sub-levels from 1 to 10.
But underestimating a D-1 Gate could be a fatal mistake.
Inside a Gate, the unexpected was the norm.
And C-rank hunter Yoo Cheolmin was learning that lesson the hard way.
"Damn it! Why the hell is there a Warrior Goblin here?!"
"Kreeeek! Kiiiik!"
Yoo Cheolmin had entered the D-1 Gate alone, thinking it would be an easy solo run.
Now, he was completely overwhelmed by a mutant Goblin horde that shouldn’t even exist in this zone.
"KIIIIK!"
CLANG!
The goblin’s iron hammer came crashing down, barely blocked by Yoo Cheolmin’s sword. He grimaced.
‘That bastard… stole a hammer from a hardware store?!’
Most people still imagined goblins as cowardly creatures, lurking in the shadows, shooting poison darts from a distance.
But that was old news.
The monsters north of the Han River had adapted, scavenging modern tools to use as weapons.
And these goblins?
They had raided a hardware store.
The entire group was wielding hammers, wrenches, and even drills.
But more importantly.
They weren’t just regular goblins, they were Warrior Goblins.
Creatures that only appeared in a D-8 Gate had somehow spawned in a D-1 Gate.
Gates were unpredictable like that.
But Yoo Cheolmin’s luck was especially bad today.
Encounters like this were exceedingly rare.
"KIIIIK!"
At the chieftain’s command, four Warrior Goblins charged toward him.
"Tsk!"
He quickly backstepped, barely blocking the first chainsaw-wielding goblin.
Even as a C-rank hunter, fighting four of these monsters at once was a losing battle.
‘I was too careless. I should’ve never underestimated a D-1 Gate.’
Yoo Cheolmin abandoned his plan to clear the Gate.
He needed to retreat.
To exit a Gate, one had to reach the safe zone first.
Just as he turned to flee a strange scraping noise echoed from behind him.
'...Scraping?'
Confused, Yoo Cheolmin tried to identify the source of the sound.
"Excuse me, just passing through."
"…?"
A young man casually strolled past him dragging a massive greatsword along the ground.
That scraping sound was his sword grinding against the floor.
‘What kind of sword is that…?’
The weapon was at least three meters long so massive that even an experienced hunter would struggle to wield it properly.
And this guy?
He wasn’t even lifting it.
He was dragging it across the ground like a broomstick.
As Yoo Cheolmin stood there, dumbfounded, he suddenly noticed the goblins were still charging.
"Look out!"
"KIIIIK!"
VRRRRRM—!
The Warrior Goblin revved its chainsaw, swinging it straight at the man.
At the last moment, the young man finally lifted his sword but rather than a precise strike, it was a lazy, sluggish swing.
'Shit!'
Yoo Cheolmin squeezed his eyes shut as the sword path meandered like an earthworm.
At any moment, the man seemed like he was about to be sliced apart by the goblin’s chainsaw.
Splat!
The gruesome sound of flesh being torn apart echoed.
Yoo Cheolmin flinched in shock.
“…W-What the hell?”
With a feeble swing of his greatsword, the man had completely erased the upper half of the goblin warrior’s body.
And as if that wasn’t enough, the force of the swing went on to shatter the tree standing behind it.
Boom!
“Man, that was tiring.”
“……”
Yoo Cheolmin stared blankly as the man wiped his forehead, looking as if he had just finished a tough workout.
“Hup!”
Despite his spirited shout, his sword swings were weak, flailing around like a jellyfish in water.
Whoosh!
Yet, the gust of wind from his strike sent Yoo Cheolmin’s hair flying while the goblins were completely shredded apart.
“…A high-rank hunter?”
His voice wavered with doubt.
The man was undeniably powerful, but something felt… off.
‘Why is he using his sword like that?’
As a swordsman-class hunter himself, Yoo Cheolmin prided himself on his knowledge of swordsmanship.
But never never had he seen a hunter swing a sword in such a loose and flimsy manner.
‘Is this some kind of new sword technique?’
Maybe it was a style that focused on elasticity by reducing tension…?
As Yoo Cheolmin tried to analyze the man’s swordplay, the stranger finished off the goblin horde and casually dragged his greatsword toward the boss room.
Out of sheer curiosity, Yoo Cheolmin followed him inside only to gulp at the scene before him.
“Hup!”
Kieeek—Splat!
The boss of Dungeon D-1.
A Hobgoblin.
It had been cleaved in half with a single, feeble-looking swing.
That day, Yoo Cheolmin posted about his bizarre encounter on Hunter Web, the largest online community for hunters.
[Saw a weird high-ranker at Olympic Park today dragging his sword around]
└ Why the hell was he dragging his sword?
└ Probably cause it was too heavy? But man, he was crazy strong. He’d swing his sword all limp, and goblins just vanished.
└ How do goblins just disappear from limp swings?
└ This ain't a lie. I saw him at Hangang Park yesterday too.
└ For real? Is this some kind of gimmick??
And so, the rumors of the ‘Sword-Dragging Weirdo’ began spreading across Hunter Web.
***
“Ugh, my arms are gonna fall off.”
I set my Twin Dragon Sword down on the shop counter and massaged my overworked arms.
For the past week, I had been roaming around Seoul’s gates, trying to get used to wielding them.
And well… I guess it paid off.
They were still ridiculously heavy, but at least I could swing them around now.
Whether I was actually swinging or just wildly flailing them depended on one's perspective…
‘But I think I’m handling them pretty well, right?’
It wasn’t just baseless confidence.
I had cleared every gate from D-1 to D-7 with an SSS-rank rating.
That might sound easy on paper, but in reality, it was an incredible feat.
Every time a gate was cleared, the system assigned a rating, and SSS-rank the highest possible score was difficult to achieve even in low-tier gates.
Sure, the Twin Dragon Sword were still too heavy for me to wield freely.
‘But worst case, I can always use Napoleon’s Rifle instead.’
After all, the Twin Dragon Sword weren’t the only relic in my possession. That thought alone was reassuring.
Even so, I made sure to stay far away from anything above D-rank gates.
I only had one life: messing around with an unfamiliar weapon in a dangerous situation was asking for trouble.
A cautious hunter was a good hunter.
“The rewards aren’t bad either.”
Low-grade mana stones from D-rank gates weren’t worth much individually.
But little by little, they added up. Sweeping through zones 1 to 7 had brought in a decent profit.
In just a week, I had racked up about 2 million won worth of mana stones.
But I couldn’t stay stuck farming D-rank gates forever.
==
[Quest: Fate of the Twin Dragon Sword (1)]
Special Gate: Myeongnyang
─ Free the Joseon Navy.
- [Difficulty: D]
- [Status: Stable]
- [Requirement: Twin Dragon Sword]
- [Time Limit: 168:28]
- [Reward: Relic related to Admiral Yi Sunsin]
==
“Well… I guess I have to clear this one.”
As soon as I returned to the modern world, my status window threw this Twin Dragon Blade-related quest at me.
Korea had multiple gates tied to Admiral Yi Sunsin.
Noryang, Myeongnyang, and Hansan.
The so-called ‘Three Gates of Yi Sunsin.’
Of the three, Hansan had already been conquered, while Noryang was an unstable gate that had to be cleared periodically.
But Myeongnyang.
No one had ever successfully cleared Myeongnyang.
It was an ‘Unconquerable Gate’.
Even Korea’s top three guilds Samdocheon, Dawn Constellation, and Heavenly Martial Sect had given up on it.
Even the government had completely abandoned any attempts.
Inside the gate, countless skeletal soldiers, likely the remains of those who perished during the Imjin War, roamed the battlefield.
And the surrounding sea… was filled with deadly whirlpools.
The Myeongnyang Strait had become a deadly, unapproachable sea.
All because of the Myeongnyang Gate.
That was the reason I had hesitated to challenge it until now.
I mean, how was I supposed to clear a gate that even the government had given up on?
And yet, something about this gate kept pulling me in.
The difficulty level.
[Difficulty: D]
D? That can’t be right.
A D-rank gate was basically a free pass; you could clear it just by swinging your sword around a few times.
But Myeongnyang was marked as D-rank.
And the reward was a relic related to Admiral Yi Sunsin.
Ideally, I would have waited until I was stronger before attempting it, but the countdown ticking down in my status window made it clear this was a time-limited quest.
"Well… there's really no reason not to go."
Just a quick peek.
If it looks bad, I run.
My deliberation took a while, but my decision was instant.
‘Alright. Let’s just dip a toe in.’
***
Meanwhile, Kim Hayoon who had placed second in the Coffin of Trials was in a foul mood.
"Snowflower Stone…"
She had failed to obtain the first-place reward.
If this had been a personal loss, she wouldn’t have been so hung up on it.
But the Snowflower Stone was more than just important to her, it was critical to Korea itself.
The Dawn Constellation guild was currently attempting to clear the Noryang Gate and to do so, Kim Hayoon needed to grow stronger.
Either that, or she had to find a relic powerful enough to assist in the raid.
“Hayoon, calm down, I’ll do whatever it takes to find the Imjin War relic.”
Ha Jinwoo, the Team 1’s leader of the Dawn Constellation, soothed Kim Hayoon.
But Ha Jinwoo's expression was not happy either.
This is due to the fact that The Noryang Gate was an unstable gate.
A ticking time bomb. Once the countdown reaches zero, the gate would enter Berserk mode.
A Gate Break.
A state where the monsters inside flood out into the real world.
The last time Noryang went into Berserk Mode, the devastation exceeded an A-rank gate break.
The problem was Noryang was a special gate that only water-attribute hunters could enter.
And the entire raid team was built around Kim Hayoon but she had failed.
Three attempts. Three failures.
The media was already tearing Dawn Constellation apart for their lack of progress.
‘I have to find a water-attribute relic.’
If not, Dawn Constellation would have to take responsibility for the Noryang Gate Break disaster.
==
Special Gate: Noryang
- [Status: Highly Unstable]
- [Difficulty: A]
- [Time Left Until Berserk: 76:28]
==
Only three days remained before Noryang went into Berserk Mode.
That's when he was nervously browsing through the listings on the antiquities market.
"Team Leader! Myeongnyang Gate has been cleared!"
“What?! Myeongnyang?!”
Shocked, Ha Jinwoo immediately pulled up his status window.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
[Myeongnyang Gate Cleared]
[Completion Rating: SSS]
"Who the hell…!?"
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
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