It was rare for an emergency alarm to sound in downtown Gyeongju, but not entirely unheard of.
Occasionally, when phenomena like the Hyakki Yagyō or the Wild Hunt occurred, alarm sirens would ring throughout the streets.
But this time was different.
This time, the alarm was triggered by the first occurrence of a Monster Gate since the Great War.
21:34.
Five mutant gates had suddenly appeared.
Because the degree of magical imbalance was identical—as if stamped out from the same mold—phonetic codes from Alpha to Echo were assigned.
21:45.
The Gyeongju local infantry division and a government special forces unit trained in magical combat began their defensive operations fully equipped, and nearby civilians were quickly evacuated.
21:50.
A mobilization order was declared across Gyeongju, and licensed sorcerers and warriors assembled according to established protocols.
This was the standard national-level response when a gate appeared.
Unless the situation was extremely unusual, the idea of a few individuals or civilians resolving such events on their own was no longer possible in the modern era.
If it were, the national system could never have been maintained.
Wooooong!
All forces swallowed dryly as they faced the gate.
The entire Gyeongju area was gripped by tension, as if a battle could break out at any moment.
One minute passed. Then five. Then thirty.
Eventually, an hour passed.
And still—
Nothing happened.
***
Valerie launched all her combat artifacts the moment she stepped out of her workshop, slamming her foot onto the ground.
She activated a flight spell toward the pre-marked coordinates, but even mid-flight, Valerie sensed something was off.
"Why is it so quiet?"
If a gate had formed, monsters should've poured out. And if monsters poured out, explosions, destruction, and chaos should've followed. The atmosphere was all wrong.
Tadak!
Valerie arrived at the gate faster than anyone else.
But what she saw made her question her own eyes.
"…Nothing came out?"
Landing lightly on the ground, she immediately activated her analysis vision.
Woooong!
The moment she laid eyes on the gate, Valerie's expression twisted.
"What kind of madman…"
A gate was a phenomenon caused by magical imbalance.
In other words, it wasn't something humans couldn't create—just something they shouldn't.
And Valerie detected human magic within this gate.
"A terrorist attack? That's insane."
But then she realized something odd.
If this was a terrorist act, the area shouldn't be this quiet.
Monsters should've been wreaking havoc.
No, why weren't there any monsters coming out?
"Wait. What is this?"
Valerie narrowed her eyes.
"It's not a terrorist attack. This is… a tunnel? Not a regular gate… a passage? Did something already come through?"
It felt more like a one-way teleportation channel connecting a distant location.
Not a two-way gate, but a passage allowing something to cross over—just once—from the other side.
"Ugh."
For the first time in ages, Valerie felt pain in her eyes.
Her analysis vision couldn't interpret it, and the strain was beginning to show.
"This isn't magic."
It wasn't sorcery. It wasn't a natural phenomenon. And it certainly wasn't a magical anomaly.
It was something beyond her knowledge, beyond interpretation.
But it undeniably took the form of a gate.
"I need to check the others too."
If it had been a normal gate, a team would have been sent in to stabilize it from the inside, but that wasn't necessary here.
The gate would likely close on its own in half a day anyway.
"I need to observe a bit more. What the hell is this?"
She needed more samples to properly "analyze" it.
With that unsettling feeling in her chest, Valerie flew toward the next gate.
***
By the time she laid eyes on the third gate, the military had arrived and was taking control of the situation.
With a large force sealing off the area, she couldn't approach the gates as easily as before.
"Should I just barge in and say I need to check the gate?"
The thought crossed her mind, but she sighed and shook her head.
Her presence in Korea hadn't been officially disclosed yet.
Her mentor had strictly warned her not to reveal her identity when she came to study sorcery. If her face became known, a recall order could drop on her by the next day.
"Still, what the hell was that thing?"
In the end, she glanced at the gate from outside the military perimeter, then turned away.
She had rushed out with all the tension in the world upon hearing of the gate's appearance, only to be left with a pile of unanswered questions.
With a slightly stiff expression, Valerie cut her magic and turned back.
"I need to do some research in the workshop. I've never seen anything like that… just who are these lunatics again?"
She wanted to inspect more using her mystic eye, but getting too close might spark misunderstandings.
Back in her workshop, Valerie flopped face-first onto the sofa like she was sliding into home base.
"Ugh, all that tension made me hungry. I want a late-night snack. Fried chicken. With beer. Churup."
Fatigue washed over her, and all thoughts of gates, magic, and terrorism were swept away in a tide of chicken cravings.
Tick-.
A warning sound rang in her ear from the detector.
"No way, another gate?"
Valerie shot to her feet and ran to the detector.
A wide panel displaying a map of the entire Gyeongju area.
Countless lights were flashing across it.
"W-What is this?"
Among those blinking lights, there was one area moving especially violently.
Tohamsan.
At first, she thought perhaps the monks at Bulguksa had sensed the gate and were reacting—but that wasn't it.
"This is a magical wavelength I've never seen before. What are these things?"
If it were a gate, the light should be red; if it were a monster, black.
But this was neither—it was a shimmering gray over Tohamsan.
"Why the hell is it showing 'Unknown'? And thirty-one of them, at that?"
Gray. Unknown.
It meant a magical wavelength she didn't recognize—something the detector had never picked up before.
"Wait… don't tell me…"
Five gates had already appeared artificially.
And now, thirty-one mysterious magical presences had shown up in the mountains.
It was impossible not to suspect a connection.
"It's them!"
The ones who had come through the gates—or created them.
Suddenly, another person came to mind.
"Wait. That guy, Lee Cheol—didn't he say he was heading to Tohamsan…"
Almost as if in response to her muttering, a yellow dot suddenly appeared on the detector over the mountain—indicating a person with a Mystic Eye.
One yellow dot, completely surrounded by dozens of gray ones.
"He's in danger!"
Valerie burst out of the workshop.
***
Haa…
I exhaled heavily, frowning.
"Turning into monsters now, huh…"
-Grrr…
Vertically slit pupils, green scaly skin, a massive frame—and walking on two legs.
"Looks like a Lizardman… but is that really the kind I know?"
It was three or four times bigger, its scales much thicker.
And the one I could see with my Mystic Eye was radiating a magical force unlike anything I'd ever seen.
It was clearly a monster's body—but the way the mana moved was eerily similar to a human's magic technique.
-Shaa!
It swiped at my lower half with its tail, then tried to bite my upper body with saw-like teeth—all while dodging my attacks.
Its movements were way beyond those of a typical Lizardman.
Despite being more intense, it moved with balance and flow.
Earlier, it felt like a human forcing themselves to mimic a monster's combat style—but now…
"It's like it found its original body… yet still fights like a human."
It was a contradiction—but there was no better way to explain it.
-KIEEEEK!
Swish!
A sudden attack grazed my bangs, scattering some hair.
I almost didn't react in time.
Even though I was watching through the Mystic Eye, it moved far faster than I'd anticipated.
And then—
-KyaaAAAAH!
There wasn't just one monster-human hybrid here.
A ghost-type female monster—commonly known as a Wraith—let out a shrill, bone-chilling scream.
"Ugh!"
Thunk!
The horrific high-pitched wail caused a brief disruption in my mana flow.
The aura I was directing toward my limbs froze for a split second—and in that instant, the Lizardman charged and body-slammed me.
"Guh!"
BOOM!
I couldn't avoid taking a direct hit.
As I stumbled back, I suddenly felt like I was sinking into something.
Squish.
Another monster—a slime—had crept up to my foot and was now slithering up my leg.
In that moment, I felt the mana being drained from my body.
"Energy Drain?"
A rank 9 slime, using Energy Drain.
"What a pain…!"
Whoosh! Boom!
I unleashed my mana to blast the slime off me and created distance.
I glared at the hybrids.
Their movements were completely different from before.
They were coordinating—thinking, strategizing—attacking me as a team.
-Shaa!
-Kieeek!
-Ugh!
Lizardman, Wraith, and Slime.
They could attack—but they didn't.
"Just like earlier, they're not charging in recklessly."
They slowly surrounded me, maintaining caution.
It's certain.
My intelligence has increased.
Or perhaps my instincts have sharpened.
"If they won't come to me, I'll go to them."
Thud!
My forward step left a deep imprint in the dirt.
I accelerated sharply and rushed into the Lizardman's range.
Qi Art, Chilling Wind.
The same aura skill formed on both Heugya and Mujin.
The twin strikes, slashing in an X-pattern, ruthlessly tore into the Lizardman's abdomen.
-Kieeeek!
A direct hit.
The cut went deep into its core—this Lizardman was out of the fight now…
Jolt!
A shiver ran down my spine. I quickly pulled back in an evasive maneuver.
Boom!
The Lizardman's tail slammed into the ground where I'd just stood.
"It can regenerate too?"
The X-shaped cut across its chest began to squirm and stitch itself back together.
The slime drains energy, and this mere low-grade monster—this Lizardman—can regenerate?
Now that I think about it, I've never heard of a wraith's scream suppressing mana unless it was a high-tier specter.
"…Tch."
Frustration surged.
Back-to-back battles were taking their mental toll.
I was still holding up, but with constant use of the Mystic Eye and repeatedly unleashing aura skills, my mana was slowly being drained.
-Kieeek!
Boom!
As if it had waited long enough, the Lizardman charged again.
Its wide, gaping maw snapped shut just inches from my nose.
The wraith kept screaming from afar, interfering with my mana flow. Meanwhile, the slime slithered from the shadows and struck at key moments to hinder my movements and drain my mana.
I felt my patience snap.
"…Mana reserves be damned. I'll cut them down one by one."
Whoosh! Slam!
Grinding my teeth, I plunged both my weapons into the ground.
Then I pushed my aura output to the limit.
From the two blades embedded in the earth, an aura skill erupted.
Aura Skill – Wave.
When I first discovered the tomb's entrance, Wave only managed to blow away leaves and dust. But at full power, it was on a whole different level.
-Kieeeek!
It was a storm of aura that sliced through everything touching the ground.
Expanding in concentric circles, the Wave ripped through the Lizardman, leaving it bloody and collapsed on the ground.
-Shyaaaa!
The Lizardman tried to rise again, but I was already upon it, climbing onto its back.
"Let's see if you can regenerate from a severed head."
I crossed Heugya and Mujin, swinging them like giant shears.
Slice!
The Lizardman's head fell cleanly to the ground.
Having poured all my aura into that attack, the outcome was only natural.
Breaking free from the twitching corpse stiffening in death, I sprinted straight toward the wraith.
But just then—
Ssshhhhhhkk!
From far off in the distance, a chilling sound tore across the sky.
"No way—there was another one?!"
Someone had remained behind—the one who controlled the freaks with that flute.
A streak slashed across the sky.
Its speed was immeasurable, leaving a long tail like a comet.
"It's going to hit!"
I stopped my charge at the wraith and transformed Mujin into Ankyle, summoning an aura skill.
And then—
BOOOOOOM!
A meteor struck.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]