Crash!
“Kkik!”
Hamin’s shield, created by the wind, unfolded in the air.
The flying monsters bounced off the shield, letting out sharp shrieks.
‘As expected, another variable…’
Raon gritted his teeth, seeing this.
Once again, a variable was at play in the dungeon inside the Irregular Gate.
“Team Leader, the number isn’t too great, so I will handle them!”
“Yes, please do.”
It was fortunate that Hamin’s ability was wind.
In the meantime, Hamin, whose ability control had become more precise through training, adjusted the blades of wind he created and struck the flying monsters one after another.
“Kiiiek!”
East, West, South, North.
Monsters poured out even from the sky.
Raon tried to remain calm and spread his wide-range Guiding in all directions.
The Guiding, spread thinly like a spider web, covered the surroundings.
“Esper Dasom, please provide periodic Healing as well!”
“Yes!”
Dasom’s Healing spread along with Raon’s Guiding.
The Espers, who had been faltering under the sheer number of monsters, began to slowly overwhelm them as they received both Guiding and Healing simultaneously.
‘It’s a manageable level for now.’
Raon muttered internally, looking around.
Perhaps because there hadn’t been any casualties among ability users in the previous Irregular Gates, they weren’t being pushed back no matter how many monsters poured out.
‘Before the regression, the number of monsters wasn’t this great. Is the variable adjusting to the number of personnel, after all?’
It seemed the Gate was adjusting the number and difficulty of the monsters according to the abilities of the intruders.
If so, this number of monsters was the maximum limit the Dark Blue Gate could output.
‘We must hold out like this.’
If there was a limit to the Gate’s difficulty, the number of monsters that could be pushed out would also be limited.
In that case, they only needed to survive while killing the monsters.
‘There was no final monster guarding the core here, anyway.’
The structure was that as they killed monsters, a core would naturally appear nearby, and destroying it would end the Gate.
Raon recalled the core he had briefly seen just before he died in his past life.
“Team Leader, a telepathic message came from the East team.”
“What is it?”
“A monster from that direction…!”
Before Minjae could finish his sentence, a loud boom echoed everywhere.
Raon’s gaze turned towards the East.
“…!”
“Keeek!”
A monster that was swelling in size kept getting bigger.
Raon’s eyes widened at its abnormal appearance.
However, the monster that grew in size wasn’t just the one in the East.
Monsters that were gradually growing larger also appeared in the West, South, and even North.
Just like the final monster of other Gates.
“What in the…”
“Aack!”
The tide turned instantly.
It was natural since four boss-level monsters appeared.
Raon chastised himself for being too easy-going and shouted at Minjae.
“Tell the East team to hold out to the end!”
“Yes!”
Minjae nodded. Currently, the team with the strongest firepower was the East team.
Siwoo and Yeojun were there, and Juwon, the Guide, was also on the same team.
The South team should be fine for a while, too, as Taesung was there.
The problem was the West and North teams. Raon had to make a quick choice.
‘I should probably go to the West first.’
The North team, where Seo Dojin was, was the most unstable, but the number of monsters there was relatively smaller.
Moreover, he had placed Jamie, a Healer Esper, there, so they should be fine for a while.
So, it seemed best to support the West team first, which had neither a Guide nor a Healer Esper, and then move sequentially to the other teams.
Having decided that, Raon spoke to Hamin and Dasom.
“Esper Hamin, Esper Dasom. Let’s support the West team first to eliminate the monster, and then sequentially support the other teams.”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
The two, who quickly grasped the situation, also immediately nodded.
Raon, Dasom, Hamin, and Minjae, who had been in the center, began to move towards the West.
“Team Leader Inho!”
“Kuk, Team Leader Raon!”
“We’re here to assist!”
As expected, the West team, led by Inho, was struggling against the monsters.
Thanks to Inho’s ability, their defense was high, but they were having trouble dealing with the monsters due to a lack of firepower.
“Esper Hamin, when I give the signal, don’t spare your ability and unleash it!”
“Understood!”
Raon decided to concentrate his Guiding on the S-class Esper, Hamin.
His wind ability was wide-ranging and optimized for eliminating a large number of monsters.
“Team Leader Inho, when I give the signal, please have the other Espers pull back!”
“Got it!”
The problem was the other Espers entangled with the monsters.
The Espers had to quickly retreat during the melee.
“Now!”
Raon and Dasom used their abilities simultaneously.
Fortunately, the Espers retreated instantly at Inho’s signal, which allowed Hamin to unleash his ability.
Hamin focused his attack on the monstrously oversized creature.
“Kuraaaah!”
“Oh!”
Thud.
In the end, the monster, unable to withstand Hamin’s attack, collapsed.
The Espers let out a small cheer.
‘Then, now for the North…’
Raon, who was about to go and support the vulnerable North team next, spotted something as he turned his gaze and tilted his head.
Dasom, who was next to him, also let out a bewildered sound.
“Huh? What is that, Team Leader?”
“Why is there another Gate…”
The people around them, who noticed the anomaly, also started murmuring.
Raon, too, was doubting his own eyes.
‘Why is there another Gate inside the Gate?’
The shimmering light in the air clearly had the shape of a Gate.
But a Gate was supposed to form outside a Gate.
A Gate inside another Gate was a structure he had never seen before.
‘And the color… it’s black, isn’t it?’
The black Gate, commonly called the Black Gate, was the final Irregular Gate that would drive humanity to ruin.
But for a Black Gate to appear inside a Dark Blue Gate—this was truly unprecedented.
“The, the color is somehow…”
“A Gate inside a Gate? What is going on?”
“Is that safe?”
The agitated Espers started murmuring.
Raon gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Let’s go support the North team first. The Gate also appeared in that direction!”
“Yes, yes!”
There were no experts here to investigate the Gate.
And the Gate would likely remain quiet for a while as long as no one entered it.
Given that its waves weren’t rough and it was silent, it seemed fine until they dealt with the Dark Blue Gate monsters.
‘Unless someone rashly touched the Gate.’
Raon calmly ran towards the North team first.
“Kuk!”
Seo Dojin gritted his teeth, using his psychokinesis ability against the monsters pouring in from all sides.
He occasionally glanced behind him.
Raon and Dasom were in the center, surrounded by Espers, but the Guiding and Healing didn’t reach all the way to the North end.
“Hah…”
He was getting increasingly out of breath.
He could still use his ability without major hindrance, but the effect of the drug would soon wear off.
“Team Leader Seo!”
“…!”
Just then, Dojin sharply raised his head at someone’s shout.
A monster as tall as the sky was glaring at him with blazing eyes.
Dojin gritted his molars and raised his hand.
Kwah-Gwang!
He blocked the monster’s arm with psychokinesis and twisted it.
The monster let out a loud roar and collapsed with a thud.
“Hooh, hah…”
It was getting harder and harder to use his ability.
The energy that always enveloped his body was nowhere to be felt.
The thought that something was wrong wouldn’t leave his mind.
Surely, the one who would possess everything and live a life chosen by the world in the future was supposed to be him.
He had never doubted that it would be so for a single moment.
With his vision turning red, Dojin bit his teeth hard.
Other Espers were now blocking the swarming monsters in place of Dojin.
“Team Leader Seo Dojin, are you alright?”
“…”
Jamie approached and asked.
As a Healer Esper, he couldn’t Guide, but he was helping the unit by treating the wounds of the other Espers.
“Team Leader Seo Dojin?”
But that was all. He was just a useless presence to Dojin.
Dojin, breathing heavily, casually turned his gaze away.
“Team Leader, do you see that?”
“…!”
Just then, someone raised a hand and pointed forward.
A pitch-black light was shimmering there. It was definitely a Gate.
“A black Gate?”
Since they had never seen a phenomenon of a Gate appearing inside another Gate, everyone was naturally surprised and bewildered.
Dojin felt a strange sensation upon seeing the black Gate.
It was as if the Gate was calling out to him.
“Team Leader Seo Dojin, you must be careful. If you approach carelessly, you could… Team Leader Seo Dojin?”
“…”
Jamie’s voice, trying to stop him, was faintly heard behind him.
Jamie even grabbed his shoulder as Dojin ignored him and walked forward.
But Dojin shook off his hand and continued walking.
Soon, his vision was filled with pitch-black light.
‘Ah, finally…’
As the black light seeped into his body, he finally felt a familiar sensation.
His body, which hadn’t been Guiding, was being filled with an intangible energy.
“Haa…”
Dojin opened his eyes, which had turned pitch-black.
The black light covering his whites soon spread throughout his entire body.
“Haha.”
Dojin opened his mouth and laughed.
He felt like he could do anything right now.
The black Gate thus began to swallow Dojin and a few other Espers.
