At that hour, a program was in full swing on HunterTV, which was linked to HunterNet.
At the center of the logos of the Ten Great Guilds, which symbolized South Korea, a man in armor seated at a table opened his mouth.
“Yes, news has just arrived. Hunter Jeong Hyeon-su of South Korea, who achieved the first SSS-Rank achievement in history, has just entered Palbongsan Gate.”
The MC of Kill Point, a fairly popular clear-analysis program, continued speaking while looking at the material written on the prompter.
“Because of that, more than twenty thousand viewers have already connected. Does this not show just how much public interest there is in this rookie who has appeared after so long?”
“Yes, it does.”
“Hunter Jeong Yong-hwa. How does it look to you? Do you think Hunter Jeong Hyeon-su will truly be able to succeed in solo play?”
Jeong Yong-hwa, a high-ranking Platinum Grade Hunter, wore an indifferent expression.
“I believe it is absolutely impossible.”
“Absolutely? No matter what, you share the same surname Jeong. Are you not being too firm? I almost thought you were a pumpkin.”
At that, the comment window began to burn.
└Look at how stale the host’s joke smells.
└Impossible? He achieved an SSS-Rank accomplishment and crushed Ling Wehao, a Gold Rank-level Hunter, did he not?
└For real, that just sounds like forced hate. Jeong Yong-hwa has always been a fan of the Tyrant Fist, so is he acting like that because Chae Mu-hyeon got demolished?
└└Nonsense. Jeong Yong-hwa criticizes everyone. He is always like that.
└└He does not say things without reason. The person himself is just a little unpleasant.
The host glanced at the comment window and spoke again.
“Absolutely impossible? But F-Rank Dungeon solo clears do appear from time to time, do they not? In particular, Alexander and our Association President, who left behind SS-Rank records, both certainly cleared F-Rank Dungeons alone during their rookie days.”
└That is right!
└└Even with the advantage of the era and clear information, if he is SSS-Rank, I think a solo clear is possible.
At that, Jeong Yong-hwa gave a faint sneer.
“Do Alexander and Association President Seon Woo-hyeon look like wor… no, Hunters scattered on the roadside to you? This is no joke. The early Hunters saved humanity in that wild era. How can you compare later generations to those people?”
A few viewers cheered.
└└Everyone my age agrees… How dare anyone compare him to the goats who ruled that romantic era?
└Honestly, it is a little rude to compare him to people who solo cleared purely with their abilities and absolutely no information.
[Super Chat from Ongojisin!]
— How. dare. you. run. your. mouth. with. some. nobody,,, Alexander. and. our. Association. President,,, are on a different. level..that. is..how it is,,
Perhaps thanks to the repeated donations, the corners of the host’s mouth rose as he asked Jeong Yong-hwa another question.
“That is true, but still, the possibility…”
“Even setting aside the difference between the first generation and later generations, I am saying that the clear is impossible because of the characteristics of the Gate.”
At Jeong Yong-hwa’s firm words, the host tilted his head.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Palbongsan Gate is not an ordinary place.”
“Pardon? What do you mean it is not an ordinary place? Please explain a little further.”
The host even adjusted his glasses as though he was very curious.
“First, the monsters that appear there are vicious. Undead appear there.”
“Undead!”
“Yes. Basically, a rookie without proper skills, with little experience, and especially one who has probably never seen Undead in his life, has fallen into arrogance and entered Palbongsan immediately.”
Undead were difficult to kill through ordinary physical force.
“Before coming here, I analyzed Hunter Jeong Hyeon-su’s videos.”
“By videos, you mean the recording of his fight with Ling Wehao, correct?”
“Yes. In particular, he seemed to try to crush his opponent with force. However, if he attempts that in Palbongsan Gate, he will suffer a serious setback. At least, that is true for Hunters between rookie grade and Bronze.”
After delivering a final warning-like remark, Jeong Yong-hwa spoke as though frustrated.
“I cannot understand what Guild Master Jeong of Garam was thinking when he granted permission for the clear. He should know from the beginning that it is impossible.”
“Ah, with those words from Teacher Jeong Yong-hwa, who criticizes everyone as always, Kill Point will take a brief break!”
Jeong Hyeon-su briefly looked at the world activated inside the Gate.
[You are entering Netracta Necropolis.]
Netracta Necropolis.
To put it simply, it was an abandoned magic-technology hybrid city. In other words, it was a city Dungeon from a world where Magitech had developed to the extreme.
Palbongsan Gate was known as a cyberpunk network city of death, where digital ghosts and mutated magical monsters wandered.
In truth, there was nothing difficult about it.
This was an Undead Dungeon. The boss could be considered a lich. What appeared were simply small fry like skeletons and zombies.
Jeong Hyeon-su had to infiltrate the deepest part of Netracta Polis and obtain the ANP.
The area nearby was nothing short of ruins.
The server towers that had been built as the essence of Magitech, once the pride of a brilliant civilization, lay broken and abandoned. The magic circuits that had protected the entire city were spewing polluted mana.
The first sector of Netracta Polis, the Death Belt.
Desolate skyscrapers and earth split by magic. Floating debris rose under the red aether glow that poured from the cracks.
A being standing atop it walked forward.
Its face, covered by a corroded reinforced suit, at first glance looked like faded code broken into fragments.
“Even so, it is just a Ghost-type small fry.”
A single eye flashed like glitching red neon. Parts of its skin were pierced through like a data stream, and incomplete mechanical components rattled without pause.
[Digital Pirate]
It was a cyber specter commonly appearing in steampunk worlds. In other words, it was an Undead monster.
That was also why Palbongsan Gate was difficult. It was the only Undead Dungeon among F-Rank Gates, and on top of that, it also shared the difficult steampunk worldview.
‘It is overwhelming for an F-Rank. And since everyone is busy merely clearing it, who would notice that the ANP is here?’
If one’s head was pierced by an Aether Pirate Hook, temporary errors could occur in a Hunter’s equipment or skills.
That was also why one could not blindly rely on skills.
VRRRRRM!
The Digital Pirate that discovered Jeong Hyeon-su abruptly kicked another pirate standing beside it.
The Digital Pirate rolled down, spewing smoke as though an error had occurred, then immediately picked up its fallen head and ran in a panic.
VRRRRRM!
Then a massive drone-like vehicle appeared. It was the vehicle favored by Digital Pirates, called an Aether Specter.
The pirates who climbed aboard rushed toward Jeong Hyeon-su.
A clash with neither conversation nor compromise.
Before the pirates who intended to make him their slave, Jeong Hyeon-su immediately drew the greatsword he had carried on his back.
WHOOOOSH!
Along with a heavy sound that split the air, the blade fell upon the Digital Pirate that was charging furiously at the front.
“…?”
Doubt filled the pirate’s expression. Even if it was Undead, it was still a being that retained enough intelligence to plunder and fight.
The gap between the data it had predicted from the visible physique and weapon, and the reality it now faced, was considerable.
CRAAACK!
In real combat, such a gap inevitably meant death.
The Mountain-Shattering Blood Calamity of the Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Art, amplified by Mountain-Uprooting Strength, World-Overturning Spirit, split the Digital Pirate from the crown of its head down to both sides.
There was no enduring a blow that poured down like a great mountain.
It was generally said that Undead were difficult to kill, but in the end, that was because one lacked power.
CRUNCH!
There was nothing that could withstand overwhelming force.
Jeong Hyeon-su had a history of destroying even that vicious Archlich, not by attacking a hidden Life Force Vessel, but by annihilating its very existence with damage it could not endure.
WHOOOOSH!
Jeong Hyeon-su used that force to transition into his next attack.
To respond to Jeong Hyeon-su’s attack, the Digital Pirates set up the Aether Specters they had ridden on.
They formed a shape like a shield. In practice, it was also a response method with defensive power far beyond imagination that had thrown rookies into panic.
CREEEAK!
The hilt of the greatsword flying toward those specters screamed. Even so, its speed was accelerating.
The second offensive technique of the Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Art, Ghost Force Unending, condensed Tyrant Heaven Energy to the extreme, compressed it, then detonated it.
The blow, which displayed exceptional power in shattering defenses, struck the Aether Specters.
CRAAASH!
In an instant, three Digital Pirates were annihilated. Jeong Hyeon-su leaped into the center, and all he did was charge and charge again.
THUD!
[Impressive… primitive one!]
In the place Jeong Hyeon-su had dug into stood a being a head taller than the other Digital Pirates.
A cyberpunk worldview in which civilization had advanced to a high degree.
At the words of the specter left alone in a world presumed to have been destroyed by the Tower, Jeong Hyeon-su smiled faintly.
There was no reason for him to be bothered by something calling him a primitive.
“Fine, quietly offer me your neck. I will be taking a little benefit from that wonderful civilization of yours.”
The first sector, the Death Data Belt.
It was the appearance of the chief of the pirates guarding that place, and also the mid-boss.
[The Simulacrum Watcher seeks to destroy you.]
At its feet were people kneeling after losing even their reason.
They were not residents of the abandoned world.
“Sa… save me…”
“Guuugh!”
They were those who had challenged Palbongsan Gate, been captured, and fallen into slavery under the Watcher.
[I have nothing to give to you inferior creatures!]
When Netracta collapsed, the magic surveillance system and an AI that monitored data had fused together, giving birth to the Watcher, a digital-composite surveillance ghost. That Watcher exploded with energy.
The Watcher itself was a massive lump of errors.
If exposed to its energy, one could not distinguish reality from illusion, and it even tried to reconstruct a Hunter’s identity, location, and consciousness. It was a terrifying power.
It was the power of a strong mid-boss that drove most rookies to despair, captured them as slaves like that, subordinated them, and ultimately made them disappear.
Yet.
THUD!
With a gesture from Jeong Hyeon-su, an energy like a black haze spread out and erased all the Simulacrum Watcher’s errors.
[You bastard. For an inferior primitive, it seems you have a trick or two!]
However, the Watcher still seemed confident.
[Even so, it amounts to nothing! It must be some crude thing suitable to your level! But this time, you will never avoid it…]
It released an error controlled with even greater strength and precision, yet once again, with a single gesture from Jeong Hyeon-su, all of its errors vanished completely.
[Wh-what is this…?]
The identity of the black haze was none other than the Black Heaven Return-to-Origin Art.
It was a martial art of erasure that created nothingness. Its power had swallowed even the crystallized errors created by Magitech and returned them to their origin.
“Are you done?”
At Jeong Hyeon-su’s extremely careless-sounding words, the Hunters crushed beneath the Watcher felt an inexplicable ray of hope.
Since he had come alone, they had simply resigned themselves to their fate. But he was easily handling the errors that had caused them the greatest headaches, so at a glance, he could only seem like a godlike being.
And the one who had created that nothingness stretched his hand toward the Watcher.