Yu-na hurriedly pulled out her smartphone.
"A-A Dungeon Gate ruptured in Dongjak-gu!"
"Fuck!"
"F-For now, let's get outside——!"
"What are you talking about?! We should stay indoors and wait for rescue——!"
"No, what nonsense are you spouting?! We need to get to the underground shelter right now!"
Every university had an underground shelter installed.
The students came pouring out of the cafeteria.
And then Black Wolves came onto the campus.
-Awoooooo!
The creatures let out wolf howls and scattered in every direction.
A Black Wolf was over one and a half times larger than an ordinary wolf.
And their leader, the Red Wolf, was said to be about three times the size of a Black Wolf.
A Black Wolf was only a D-rank monster, but with its nimble movements it savagely tore into its prey.
"R-Run!"
"It's a Black Wolf!"
Students and faculty scrambled back into the buildings.
This was no time to head for the shelter.
Yu-na, too, hurried back into the cafeteria.
"Hurry!"
"Aack......!"
Shoved by the crowd, her friend Hye-in fell to the ground.
Yu-na jerked her head around in alarm.
"H-Hye-in!"
"Ugh......"
Hye-in seemed to have twisted her ankle and couldn't get up.
"M-Me too......"
Hye-in reached out a hand toward Yu-na.
The other friends were already running for the cafeteria.
Only Yu-na looked back at Hye-in.
"Y-Yu-na."
Hye-in looked at Yu-na with pleading eyes.
The Black Wolves were charging in from a few hundred meters away.
Take Hye-in with her, and they'd be caught.
But Yu-na clenched her fists and ran to Hye-in, hauling her up.
"Get up, quick!"
"O-Okay!"
Weeping, Hye-in ran with Yu-na toward the cafeteria.
"Hurry up!"
"Just shut the door!"
"What are you saying?! There are still people who haven't made it in!"
"Fuck, close it!"
"Move! Close the door!"
The students who'd made it into the cafeteria clashed with one another.
Yu-na looked at the cafeteria, frantic.
"D-Don't close it, please!"
Despite Yu-na's cry, the cafeteria door was shut in the end.
"N-No!"
The students who hadn't made it in pounded hard on the cafeteria door.
CRASH!
"Open it! Fuck, if you don't open it we'll just break it down!"
"Get a rock! We'll smash it and——!"
"There's no way a door like this can stop a Black Wolf——!"
The students inside began piling chairs and tables against the entrance.
"You sons of bitches......!"
Yu-na and Hye-in, having finally reached the cafeteria, pounded on the door, trembling.
"Fuck, let's go in through the windows!"
"Yeah, the windows——!"
But those windows too had all been locked.
"These insane bastards......!"
The students left outside looked around frantically.
They were searching for somewhere to hide.
-Rrruff! Ruff-ruff!
A Black Wolf barked like a dog and closed to within a few dozen meters.
"Gyaah!"
The students dropped onto their backsides and stared at the Black Wolves.
Yu-na and Hye-in too collapsed to the ground, faces white with terror.
To an ordinary person's eyes, a D-rank monster was no different from a savage beast.
Even a snarling dog was frightening enough — how much more a wolf that dwarfed it?
"Hiik......!"
Hye-in and Yu-na clasped each other's hands.
"P-Please......"
"Gyaaah......!"
When one male student broke and ran, a Black Wolf gave chase.
And in an instant, it tore into his upper body.
Crrrunch!
"Gyaaaagh!"
Blood and organs spilled from the male student's body.
Even the students inside the cafeteria trembled, faces stricken with terror.
And the Black Wolves slowly began to close in on Yu-na's group.
"Ah......"
So this is where I die.
-Rrruff!
Just as a Black Wolf let out a howl and lunged at Yu-na's group—
Squelch—!
Crimson blood sprayed before Yu-na's eyes.
"......?!"
"M-Miss!"
"Are you all right?!"
Yu-na stared at the young men before her, bewildered.
They all wore GH Guild uniforms.
"Ah......"
"Our apologies. We tried to reach the campus sooner, but we ran into the Black Wolves right outside......"
"You're not hurt anywhere......"
-Rrruff! Ruff!
The guild member's voice was cut off by a Black Wolf's howl.
"Kill them all!"
"How dare they touch the Miss......!"
Ten guild members turned eight Black Wolves into lumps of meat in an instant.
"Insolent creatures......"
"Miss, are you injured anywhere?"
Yu-na clutched her pounding heart and nodded.
"Thank goodness. For now, please come with us."
"Ah, um...... my mom and dad......"
"Guild members have been deployed there as well. Please don't worry."
"We'll escort you. This way......"
"H-Hye-in too......"
Yu-na grabbed Hye-in's hand.
"Yes, she may come along as well."
At that, the students inside shouted toward the GH Guild members.
"W-We too......!"
"GH Guild members have already been deployed across the campus. Association Hunters will arrive to support shortly, so there's no need to worry too much."
The students who'd fled into the cafeteria opened the windows and shouted.
"T-Take us too, please!"
"It's not possible to move with so many people. The two of us will remain here on standby. We're S-rank Hunters as well, so please don't worry."
"Ah......!"
At the word S-rank, the students breathed a relieved sigh.
"But why those girls......"
"This person is someone GH Guild is protecting. And half of us will join in cutting down the monsters that have entered the campus...... so please go inside the building and wait."
"Ah......"
"Well then, we'll be off......"
Yu-na and Hye-in withdrew from the scene under the protection of eight guild members.
The remaining two guild members stayed on standby near the cafeteria, keeping watch.
Yu-na's friends, who'd fled into the cafeteria, stared blankly out the windows.
"Y-Yu-na."
After Yu-na and Hye-in slipped off campus, four guild members immediately returned to the grounds.
"Kyaaaaah!"
Screams and explosions rang out on all sides.
It wasn't only Black Wolves that had spilled from the Gate.
Goblins, then Kobolds, and even E-rank monsters, Killer Rabbits.
And beyond them, a B-rank monster — a Minotaur — swung an enormous club, smashing buildings.
KABOOM—!
At the sight, Yu-na and Hye-in froze stiff.
"This way, please."
One guild member quickly ran at the Minotaur.
Pa-pa-pat!
Closing the distance to the Minotaur in an instant, the guild member swung his blade and lopped off its head.
Slash—!
-M-Moooo......
The Minotaur's head dropped onto the road.
Yu-na and Hye-in ran with the GH Guild members toward the Dongjak Hardware building.
Inside the building, her father Jin-o and mother Su-yeon were together with GH Guild members.
"Mom, Dad!"
"Yu-na!"
The guild members immediately positioned themselves around the building and stood watch.
"The members stationed in Gwanak-gu have been dispatched as well. Please wait a little while until the situation settles."
At one guild member's words, Jin-o and Su-yeon, holding Yu-na close, bowed their heads at once.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"Thank you so much for saving our Yu-na!"
The guild members gave wry smiles.
"We contacted the Master a moment ago as well."
"K-Kang-hyeok?"
"Yes. The North Chungcheong Raid is nearly wrapped up. If anything, the Association has requested he return quickly because of the Raid that broke out in Seoul. Right now, besides Dongjak-gu, Dungeon Gates have ruptured in Jungnang-gu and Gangdong-gu as well."
"......?!"
Three Dungeon Gates had ruptured in Seoul alone.
The Gate that ruptured in Dongjak-gu was estimated at around B-grade.
The one in Jungnang-gu was also B-grade, and the one in Gangdong-gu was estimated at C-grade.
The problem was the number of monsters.
The count that spilled out in Seoul easily topped a hundred and twenty thousand.
Because of that, even the small and mid-sized low-rank Hunters had all been committed to the field.
Hye-in looked at Yu-na, dazed.
'Th-This is the hardware store Yu-na's parents run?'
The scale of the store was considerable.
More than that, why were the GH Guild members calling Yu-na "Miss"?
Why were they protecting Yu-na and her parents?
Hye-in swallowed hard.
'Don't tell me......'
Sitting on a folding chair, Hye-in looked at Yu-na.
"Y-Yu-na."
"Hm?"
"I-Is your brother...... Hunter Park Kang-hyeok?"
Yu-na gave a bitter smile and nodded.
"Ah......"
Yu-na had been the younger sister of State-Power-Class Hunter Park Kang-hyeok all along?!
"Keep it a secret for now. My brother doesn't reveal his face either."
"When he took down the Cyclops this time......"
"Mm...... it'll be hard to keep hiding his face, sure. Anyway, even if my brother shows his face, it's not like I'll become famous...... more importantly, did you get in touch with your parents?"
"Oh!"
Hye-in hurriedly called her parents.
Thankfully, both had evacuated to a shelter and were safe.
Hye-in breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the GH Guild members keeping watch around the hardware store.
Alarms and screams came from every direction.
The monsters' cries and explosions never let up either.
At least some of the GH Guild members were cutting down monsters nearby, which kept the damage down a little.
And so, about an hour passed, and then an anomaly occurred in Dongjak-gu.
Thoom—!
"T-Team Leader! An orc legion is pouring out of the Dongjak Gate! An S-rank monster, an Orc Chief, has been confirmed at the front! Take the Master's family and evacuate quickly——!"
Kaboom—!
"......?!"
With a tremendous blast, several commercial buildings came crashing down.
Yu-na's group jolted in alarm, their faces going white.
On their smartphones, the Dongjak Gate's grade was upgraded to A.
"Please, hurry out!"
Bark, leader of GH Guild's 19th Team, hurriedly led Jin-o, Su-yeon, Yu-na, and Hye-in in evacuating.
-Chiiik! Chik—!
The orcs that spilled from the Gate numbered over ten thousand.
Among them were a great many Orc Generals and Shamans.
The S-rank monster, the Orc Chief, raised a red battle aura and shattered every building around it.
CRASH! Ka-ka-ka-krash! Krash—!
At the battle aura, on par with a highest-grade Sword Master, the Hunters recoiled in shock.
-Attack!
The Orc Chief spoke in human language, issuing commands to the orcs.
The Orc Warriors hurled themselves at the soldiers, police, and Hunters.
Slash—!
"Gyaagh......!"
Over two meters tall with hulking bodies and green skin — the orcs.
Even an Orc Warrior alone was a fearsome monster, classified as C-rank.
And with Orc Generals wielding the battle aura of a lowest-grade Sword Master and Orc Shamans using dark magic showing up as well, Dongjak-gu, and then Gwanak-gu, descended into chaos.
-Here, I shall found the kingdom of the orcs!