A little later. The move into the Gate began.
The space they passed into—piercing that mirror-like surface while listening to Sa Cheongrin’s guidance—was a forest with a dim sky tinged with blood, and tall trees driven densely into the ground.
Sihyun, who had gone in a bit earlier, stood quietly so he wouldn’t stand out until everyone behind him finished entering.
The atmosphere was eerie, sure, but the fresh air he could feel so clearly loosened his mood for no reason.
And maybe because he was drunk on that team leader high, there wasn’t even any picking a fight flying over from Jang Myunghoon, who had been holding his head stiff.
"Hmm…. He’s pretty far."
Just then, maybe he’d entered together with the last student, because Sa Cheongrin, who had been standing near the Gate, tilted his head as he looked down at a device that looked like a smartphone.
What he was holding was a so-called "energy detector," a magic tool that spread out a wave and displayed the locations of living beings, and colors that changed depending on how much magic power they had.
It wasn’t insanely accurate, so most Hunters only used it to check the rough location and the boss’s color, and that was it.
Of course, even just that was pretty valuable information, so it was also a tool you absolutely needed for Gate exploration.
"Alright, everyone, check the faces of the people in front, behind, and beside you, and follow behind me!"
Maybe he’d gotten a direction, because Sa Cheongrin smiled brightly and started leading the students.
The group walked, chattering for a while, but as some time passed, they gradually started shutting their mouths.
A forest where light didn’t come in well had an excellent effect all on its own of stirring up fear, so it seemed the students were starting to feel reality hit and were getting scared.
They called themselves Hunters, awakened and all that, but there was no way anyone here had actually come to a place like this and experienced combat. Well—except for Jang Myunghoon, who flapped his mouth like he was bragging.
"Hah, if it were F-rank, it would’ve ended real fast. But of course the boss is far, so we’re gonna waste all our time just walking. I went to an E-rank Gate with my dad before, you know."
If you weren’t a Hunter, entering a Gate was illegal. Even so, Myunghoon was proudly running his mouth, showing off to his own group as they chimed in.
Still, maybe because someone kept talking, the atmosphere was loosening a little compared to before.
But even in the middle of this, Sihyun was feeling a weird sense of danger.
Right now, they’d been walking along the footpath for three hours. But even if this was an F-rank Gate, it didn’t make sense that there was nothing around them to this extent, so he couldn’t easily let his guard down.
Even so, one day passed without any particular attack.
After walking and resting over and over, when the forest—already dark—grew even darker until it was pitch-black and they couldn’t see an inch ahead, the group started preparing camp.
Even while helping the group with this and that menial work, Sihyun kept widening his perception little by little to check the surroundings.
If that machine checked and displayed the energy of living beings, then monsters that moved while hiding their life force or magic would definitely not show up on it.
Of course, maybe Sihyun was being excessive, coming into an F-rank Gate and thinking like this, but the experience of surviving while crossing the line of death for ten years didn’t let him loosen up easily.
"Today, after dinner, we’re going straight to sleep, and we’ll move as soon as morning comes! So don’t mess around—sleep and recover your stamina."
Following Sa Cheongrin’s instructions that came in here and there, Sihyun forced down the growing anxiety and carried out the schedule.
But his hunches in this kind of thing had never missed, so Sihyun took a watch without making it obvious, kept guard in all directions, and stayed up through the night.
Yet when day broke and the day really started with nothing happening at all, even he started to think maybe he was worrying way too much, and began to doubt his own senses.
'No, what is it? Am I seriously worrying too hard?'
Even after that, a few more days with absolutely nothing happening—no incidents, no attacks—flew by like an arrow.
In the meantime, the group had loosened up as much as possible, to the point where they were happily chatting like they were on a field trip.
If they were people who’d rolled around in places like this for years, they would’ve realized this situation made no sense and raised their guard—but this was a bunch of newbies.
Even Sa Cheongrin, the leader, was walking comfortably, casually talking about random things, so Sihyun could only let out a small sigh at how he still seemed like he hadn’t gotten the murim out of his system.
Flinch.
"Huh?"
"Why??"
But as if peace was over, the scenery they were walking through started to feel familiar. As the déjà vu grew stronger and stronger with every step, Sihyun finally stopped in place.
And when Sihyun, who was in the middle of the group, stopped, the people behind him also halted with a rustling wave.
Then Jang Myunghoon, who’d been in the front playing leader, snapped his head around and started glaring at Sihyun.
"Who told you to break formation without saying anything! I didn’t even tell you to stop! You totally killed the vibe!"
"Uh, sorry."
He’d worked up the courage to get angry, but when Sihyun answered like it was nothing and stayed distracted, only scanning the surroundings, it got embarrassing and Myunghoon’s voice got even louder.
"Grr…."
But when there was still no reaction, Myunghoon’s face flushed red and he huffed, while Sihyun quickly told the group he was sorry and started walking again.
The person beside him looked at his face like it was weird for a moment, then turned away and went back to chatting with the group ahead.
'What is it. Is it just some kind of déjà vu?'
Sihyun shook his head slightly and started watching the surroundings they were passing more carefully. If someone argued that all forests looked the same, he wouldn’t have anything to say, but this familiar feeling wasn’t a lie.
Right then, not long after, Sa Cheongrin raised one hand and stopped, and the loud chatter died out in a single breath.
"This is the entrance."
Sa Cheongrin stood in front of a tree so thick it looked like it had to be hundreds of years old, and grinned like this was a road right in front of them.
And then a memory slammed into Sihyun’s head like lightning.
'Fuck. This is the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.'
Yeah. This place was definitely the entrance they’d passed through at the end, when he and Taewoon went to smash the Demonic Cult. The place armed with a powerful formation.
Sihyun hurriedly activated Insight and stared at what looked like nothing but a tree no matter how you looked at it.
[Calamity Four-Sovereigns Mara Radiance Formation (-)]
'It’s real…. What the hell is going on?'
Everything about this situation was chaos. A Gate and the Demonic Cult? Could that even happen?
Just then, Sa Cheongrin laughed briskly and started explaining the current situation in an orderly way.
"It looks like the front is concealed by a kind of barrier. I’ll lead the way, so instead of two columns, line up in single file, grab the shoulder of the person in front, and follow!"
Sihyun, who’d been blank for a moment, bit his lip lightly at the leader’s words. If this array really was that array, this was a place they absolutely could not enter.
'But it’s F-rank. There’s no way it’s really that formation.'
Sihyun still grabbed at his confused head. But before Sihyun could reach any conclusion, Sa Cheongrin pierced straight through the tree, and in the end, Sihyun hurriedly followed behind the group without even realizing it.
In the end, the space that had looked like a tree rippled shallowly as it swallowed everyone, and the forest sank into silence as if nothing had happened.
That was when the anomaly began.
Outside the Gate where Team H’s bus was waiting. The Gate that had been shedding white light slowly darkened, then began changing into a deep purple.
It was a color no one had ever seen yet.
***
The inside of the formation was filled with a very thick fog.
It made visibility uncomfortable to the point where you could barely see about two people ahead, and even Sihyun—who had never entered inside this formation like this before—couldn’t tell whether this was a normal phenomenon.
For now, following Sa Cheongrin’s words, Sihyun grabbed the shoulder of the female student walking ahead and moved his feet carefully, guarding in all directions.
He didn’t have any sharp plan either, and he judged it would still be best to follow the experienced person.
But the moment he hadn’t even moved a few steps.
From all directions, sharp killing intent poured in all at once like a storm of chaotic blood chains, stabbing into him.
"Kgh!"
Without thinking, Sihyun sprang back, grabbed his sword hilt, and started scanning all around.
At the same time, cold sweat seeped out along his back little by little, dampening the T-shirt he was wearing.
"W-Why? Is something wrong??"
"...No. Don’t let go of the person in front."
But unlike the killing intent that had poured in without warning, there was nothing at all in the surroundings, and Sihyun hurriedly grabbed the shoulder in front of him again while cursing nonstop inside his head.
'Fuck. No, this is F-rank? No. This isn’t it. That doesn’t make sense.'
The killing intent he’d just felt was absolutely not something these students could handle.
Of course, the same went for Sihyun, whose stats had gotten slashed to hell.
Even that C-rank explosive Gate hadn’t been able to stab at his perception like this. It seemed like some kind of mistake had happened.
And if this really was the inside of that formation, he couldn’t keep moving this way.
His decision was fast. Sihyun quickly shot forward to the front of the line and grabbed the leader’s shoulder. The man walking forward stopped dead.
"You can’t go further ahead. Actually, I have a skill for finding the path… b—"
But Sihyun couldn’t finish what he was saying.
"This fucking—"
Crunch.
The head of the man Sihyun thought was Sa Cheongrin turned toward Sihyun with a loud noise, like someone crumpling hardened clay, twisting a full 180 degrees. And as if they’d been waiting, the heads of the students lined up behind also began turning slowly toward where Sihyun was.