NOVEL NEXT Chapter 142
Chapter 142
Knock, knock.
Team Leader Seo Yong-gil lifted his head at the sound of knocking on the door.
“Come in.”
The door swung open as a staff member entered, carrying a hefty bundle of documents.
As the staff member carefully placed the document pile on a corner of the desk and attempted to leave, Team Leader Seo asked,
“Is there anything unusual this morning?”
The staff member paused, thought for a moment, then replied,
“Well, not particularly… Oh, we received word an hour ago that they entered the Abnormal Gate raid without any issues.”
“I see. Understood. Please continue your work outside.”
“Yes, then.”
The staff member bowed and exited.
‘Abnormal Gate, huh.’
Team Leader Seo thought to himself.
Indeed, it was still an important matter.
However, it was no longer something to make a fuss over like in the past.
For three years, they had successfully raided the Abnormal Gate without a hitch.
Moreover, this time, the raid was spearheaded by the nation’s top guild, the Sun Guild.
There shouldn’t be any more issues.
Still, intrigued by this, Team Leader Seo rummaged through the document pile to find details about this Abnormal Gate situation.
A cooperative raid between the Sun Guild and the Yangji Guild.
He was aware that the Yangji Guild had been gaining a decent reputation in the industry lately.
Surely, this Abnormal Gate raid would conclude quite smoothly.
As he mindlessly scanned the list of raid members, Team Leader Seo’s eyes suddenly halted.
“Huh?”
A name he recognized was there.
Lee Si-hyun.
“Why is this person here?”
Team Leader Seo muttered in disbelief.
Si-hyun was a D-rank Hunter.
Ordinarily, someone at that level wouldn’t even be remembered individually by a count.
But he distinctly remembered this one.
How could he forget?
Si-hyun had always been involved in significant events that left a lasting impression.
Because of that, he had paid close attention to him before.
And now, here he was, listed as a member of the raid for this Abnormal Gate.
He knew that Si-hyun had joined the Yangji Guild.
But he never expected him to participate in this raid.
‘Is he a porter?’
Team Leader Seo squinted at the words next to Si-hyun’s name.
Being a D-rank clearly implied that taking on any role besides a porter’s would be impossible in the Abnormal Gate.
Nonetheless, porters were allowed to join.
But still…
Just seeing his name gave Team Leader Seo an uneasy feeling.
A lot had happened over time.
…Could it be again this time?
‘No way.’
Team Leader Seo shook his head.
That was probably overthinking it.
There hadn’t been any issues with him in the past three years.
Moreover, this situation really didn’t seem like it would cause any problems.
Team Leader Seo forced himself to dismiss his concerns about Si-hyun and closed the documents.
◈ ◈ ◈
“Grrr!”
The Twin-Headed Ogre screamed with its remaining head.
Its legs had been severed by a Sword Aura.
Soon, the massive body of the Twin-Headed Ogre crumpled to the ground, unable to support itself.
Boom!
Dust kicked up, shaking the surroundings.
Thump!
Nam Woo-sik promptly drove his sword, empowered with Sword Aura, into the Twin-Headed Ogre’s neck.
The creature’s body twitched violently for a moment before all movement ceased.
Despite successfully slaying the notorious Twin-Headed Ogre, Nam Woo-sik’s expression remained grim.
His body was drenched in the monster’s blood.
“Huff.”
He let out a short sigh, his breath a bit rough.
It was a sign of fatigue.
It was rare to feel this way before reaching the boss.
Besides the early days of his unskilled rookie phase, he couldn’t remember the last time he felt this exhausted.
For the strongest member of the raid team to show even a hint of tiredness spelled trouble.
If he was struggling, it was obvious that the other guild members were in worse shape.
“Ugh.”
A muffled groan indicated someone was struggling in pain.
Nam Woo-sik turned around with a stern expression.
There, a guild member was grimacing, clutching their injured left arm, which had been torn off by the Twin-Headed Ogre.
The member’s face was pale, and their body trembled in agony as they braced themselves against the pain.
“…Just hang in there a little longer.”
Han Ji-ho, biting his lip, healed the wounds with magic.
However, the expressions of the observing guild members were grim.
They all understood.
No matter how skilled an A-class healer was, they were not gods.
Reattaching a severed arm was impossible.
That guild member now had to live with a lifelong disability.
The feelings of suddenly dropping from a reputable B-rank Hunter to a disabled person were beyond imagination for those around them.
“Damn.”
Someone swore.
Others felt the same, even if they didn’t curse.
Given everything they had gone through, such feelings were natural.
Manticore or Twin-Headed Ogre were not the only threats.
Whenever it was quiet, these super-high-risk monsters would appear and torment the guild members.
Every time, they fought desperately and breathlessly.
Ultimately, they might have managed to fend them off, but the members were growing more exhausted, and injuries were piling up.
Finally, serious injuries had appeared.
The state of the guild members now was disastrous.
Armor was dented and broken in several places.
Even the most protected wizards or healers had their robes covered in dirt and tattered to shreds.
This was not just anyone; it was the top raid team of the Sun Guild.
The elite team boasted by the number one guild in the industry.
To see them in such a state from common field monsters rather than boss monsters was unimaginable.
“Captain.”
A-class Tanker Heo Gi-taek called to Nam Woo-sik. He was the de facto leader of this raid team.
Nam Woo-sik glanced at him, asking what was wrong.
“We need to conserve our items.”
They had been relentlessly using various potions and scrolls that were typically reserved for bosses because they were constantly facing frighteningly strong enemies.
As a result, they had already depleted a significant portion of their prepared items.
That’s why Heo Gi-taek was voicing such a concern.
“That makes sense.”
Nam Woo-sik agreed.
They both understood what they were thinking.
If the common monsters were this tough, then the boss monster…
They needed to save their emergency items for that time.
“…We should have come together.”
Someone muttered with a dispirited expression.
They immediately received harsh glares from the other guild members.
It had been Han Ji-ho’s insistence to go separately, but the captain had approved it, and the guild members had tacitly agreed.
Bringing up regrets now would only hurt morale.
“Don’t say weak things. We’ve always been the best raid team, and we still are.”
Nam Woo-sik spoke with a strong voice.
“Right, don’t talk about dying over something like this.”
“If you’re scared, just stay here.”
The other guild members chimed in with support.
The man who had spoken regretfully lowered his head.
Meanwhile, Su-jin sat in a corner, gnawing at her nails with an annoyed expression.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it.’
What a mess this was.
Since joining the Sun Guild and participating in raids, she had never felt genuinely threatened.
Even against bosses, she could just provide support while being sheltered by the tankers.
But earlier, she had genuinely felt a heart-sinking threat.
If she had even been slightly delayed in using her shield, she might have died.
An enemy had approached so closely that the tanker struggle to protect her completely.
In such circumstances, she had to engage in melee combat, something she was entirely unaccustomed to using magic.
As a result, her usually pristine robes were filthy, and sweat was dampening her forehead.
‘What a day to have that guy around.’
She frowned.
She wanted to show a perfect and overwhelming performance while demonstrating that even this lowly gate was nothing against the elite raid team of her excellent guild.
But those thoughts had gone awry.
‘No, wait.’
Su-jin shook her head.
If she felt this way, then the opposite side must be in a much worse state.
They were probably in a dire situation, one that wouldn’t even bear to look at with their eyes.
If they caught sight of them, they would have to beg for help pitifully like ragged beggars.
“…Yeah, that makes sense.”
Su-jin seemed to relax a bit and smiled wryly.
◈ ◈ ◈
“We’ll be faster, right?”
Dong-il spoke up.
“No, can’t you tell by looking at that?”
Si-hyun replied incredulously.
Before them stood three mutated trolls that looked to be the size of standard trolls.
And in front of them stood Lin Xue, calmly as ever.
Trolls were notoriously difficult monsters with immense strength and massive regenerative abilities.
It was hard to even kill them due to their rapid healing from even substantial wounds.
Yet these appeared to be mutated trolls with even more terrifying strength.
Given their size, even a large guild’s raid team would surely have a tough time with them.
“How long do you think it would take to take those down?”
Si-hyun pointed at the mutated trolls with his finger.
“Ugh… I honestly don’t know now. Are they really that strong or weak? What if they’re actually super weak?”
Dong-il shook his head, utterly confused.
“That can’t be.”
Mujik, who stood beside him, said that, but he too looked just as perplexed.
Si-hyun could understand why they might be confused.
After taking down high-risk monsters like Manticore and Twin-Headed Ogre like they were goblins, it was natural to be thrown into doubt.
“Yawn.”
The culprit behind that confusion, Lin Xue, yawned, gently covering her face with her left hand while her right hand snapped her fingers.
At that, hundreds of ice arrows sprang into existence in the air.
That was her signature technique.
The troll wielding enormous clubs paused, clearly feeling threatened.
But soon, believing in their massive regenerative powers, they charged at Lin Xue.
Just a slight movement of her right hand sent the ice arrows raining down on the trolls.
And then—
“UUUUUUAAAGH!”
The trolls let out enormous screams.
The ice arrows mercilessly pierced their bodies.
In an instant, they were rendered into rags.
“…Look at that! That’s definitely a class 1 magic Ice Arrow, isn’t it? If they can be pierced by something like that, their skin must be super weak. They’re actually weak, right?”
Dong-il exclaimed, his face blank with shock.
Troll hide was famously known for its toughness and durability.
If such hide could be pierced by mere Ice Arrows, even a passing dog would laugh.
“If you’re that doubtful, maybe you should step up next time, Dong-il.”
Si-hyun chuckled.
“N-No, no! They look strong! They seem really tough! Hahaha, we should hurry along.”
Dong-il forced an awkward laugh and averted his gaze.
“…Right, at least we can get the jump on those selfish cretins who only think of their own interests.”
“We could even take a nap after catching the boss, right?”
“A nap! Now that sounds great. I’m tired without even doing anything—hahaha!”
Dong-il scratched his head while laughing.
“What are you doing? Let’s go.”
Lin Xue, usually the hardest worker, urged the party forward.
“Yes!”
The comfortable response from the laid-back crew made it clear to anyone watching that they were doing exceptionally well.
‘If we keep slacking off like this, it’ll be tough to adapt for the next raid…’
The thought even crossed his mind.
‘No, just enjoy the present.’
Si-hyun shook his head with a smile and moved forward again.