The Knight King Who Returned with Gods : Chapter 18
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 18 Hunting Spider (1)
The conditions for a gate to cause a dungeon break are
simple.
After the gate appears, the magic inside begins to
expand, eventually causing the gate to crack.
This is why dungeon breaks have a time limit ranging from
1 to 3 rounds.
Preventing a dungeon break is surprisingly simple.
You can either close the gate by clearing the conditions
that appear when you enter the gate, or you can periodically clean the inside
to remove the magic that would otherwise expand.
The latter method is used when you want to intentionally
leave a gate open, like the one in Seoul Station.
But just as the explanation for gates is not perfect,
there are always exceptions.
This, was the case with the gate at Cheongju Sports
Complex…
"Hey, guys, let's get a win this time!"
"We lost 24:3 last week, so we've lost 8:1 three
times, and now we're going to win! I can see it!"
As the 10,000 spectators cheered, a gate appeared in the
middle of the stadium.
"Yeah~, we can win this time."
After the gate was opened, the Association staff measured
the rating of the gate.
The gate was rated Scarlet after measuring the amount of
energy inside. After registering the Cheongju Sports Complex Gate through the
Association's database, the next step was to select the people that will attack
the gate.
Local guilds were prioritized.
The raid team that can sortie the fastest has priority,
and next, the raid group with a certain rank or higher gets the right of
bidding.
The Cheongju Sports Complex Gate was claimed by the KPP
guild, a group of local native hunters, and they immediately entered the gate.
"Hyungnim1, this is......."
"I know......."
KPP Guild Leader Kim Han-soo and Class A Tanker Cho
Ho-yeol shared a subtle look at the sight.
A wasteland.
A desolate world with barren city and blowing sandstorms.
This kind of world was not uncommon among the Gates. The
interior landscapes of the world's destruction were familiar to the hunters.
The problem was the civilization level of this gate.
"At least modern civilization. Maybe... more
advanced than Earth."
Ruined but standing buildings, autonomous robots roaming
the streets.......
"That's interesting, a gate to a future world."
"There's fantasy and cavalry, so why not a
futuristic world?"
The worlds inside the gates were so diverse.
If it's a standard dungeon-type gate, you might merely
defeat monsters and the boss, and if it's a field-type gate, it might not
extend beyond a certain distance.
However, the higher the grade of the gate, the more
complex and diverse the scenery and characteristics of the interior become.
Fantasy type, for example.
You'll see humans and elves using swords and magic, and
goblins and orcs as enemies.
Another example, wuxia types.
There were the so called murim and sapa or evil martial
artists. Usually the sapa or evil martial artists are the enemies.
Other gates included apocalyptic types, archaic types,
and even elements of sci-fi.
[New implant released. Replace your useless body with a
machine.]
A perk for the Hunters who are the intellects of the
Gate. Cho Ho-yeol reads a poster on the exterior wall of the building with the
'perfect translation' ability.
He looked at it and said to Guild Leader Kim Han-soo.
"Guild Leader, this is a cyberpunk one."
"Ho......."
The future world. A world where civilization is more
advanced than Earth.
"This is troublesome, we'll have to revise our party
strategy against the enemies."
Highly developed civilizations inevitably use
high-powered ranged weapons such as firearms and laser weapons.
For hunters, who are forced to rely on individual
strength, this can be tricky.
"Many mass production types are rather natural
enemies for hunters since we have large individual variation in power and
limited strength."
"Yes, but since it's a battle in urban area, we can
go from building to building and replenish our stamina, and we won't be
surrounded."
Hunters are strong. Even D-class hunters are stronger
than most humans.
However, they were still living beings, mere foot
soldiers with limited stamina.
Regardless of the type of creatures here at this gate, it
would be difficult to deal with an army equipped with firearms.
"Let's use the building over there as our base camp.
It's quite tall, so it'll be a good place to scout."
The 58 members of the KPP Guild's raiding party entered a
small seven-story commercial building among the crumbling buildings.
They prepared for battle and stormed floor by floor, but
all they saw was a desolate ruin, with no results.
"Look at this, Guild Leader. These clothes are
pretty cool. Didn't they actually have some kind of hologram on them?"
Park Hye-ri marveled as she picked up a strange garment
from a nearby clothing store.
"Hye-ri, you should keep that. If it's got good
technology in it, it'll be pretty cool."
More advanced civilizations may be a bit tricky, but it's
not like they don't have anything to offer.
Most of the stuff from more advanced civilizations could
be used in their life if interpreted correctly.
Most of them are indecipherable, but reverse engineering
is not without success, and governments are still mining technology from these
gates.
"Ho-yeol, do you see anything?"
"Umm... there's really nothing here. No wandering
NPCs, no monsters."
Strange.
Normally, a field-type gate would have NPCs and monsters.
"Where's the Yakt Spinner? I thought that was the
boss monster."
The quest that popped up upon entering the dungeon.
[Either take or destroy the 'Jewel of Wisdom', guarded by
the Yakt Spinner.]
The KPP Guild's primary goal is to defeat the boss
monster, Yakt Spinner.
Since the gate closing condition is the Jewel of Wisdom,
they plan to appraise it before deciding whether to take it or destroy it.
"I don't see any signs."
"That's weird......."
The weather was shitty. But still, it was odd to see not
a single monster, let alone a human, in such a large city.
"Well, at least we're not dealing with a Resistance
Army or an evil dictatorship's war machines."
What the hell is a yakt spinner anyway?
"Anyway, make sure the perimeter is secure. Get the
scouts out and draw a map──"
-Puck
Something whizzed by them.
The KPP guild members turned their gaze towards the guild
leader who was suddenly interrupted.......
"Han-soo Hyung?"
"Guild Leader?"
The entire upper half of his body, from his navel to his
head, everything in between disappeared.
They only fully grasped what they had just seen when
Guild Leader Kim Han-soo's upper torso and head fell to the ground.
They had just lost their guild leader.
"That's a sniper! Take cover!"
Vice Guild Leader Cho Ho-yeol shouted urgently. The
hunters, who had all been through the wringer, jumped for cover, leaning
against the exterior walls of the building or the stalls.
"What the fuck! How did we not notice?!"
Hunters are superhuman. They are far beyond human limits.
They say human firearms are pointless against them, but
that's not true.
Hunters are much better off than the average person, but
they can still be killed by the high firepower of modern weapons.
However, the dead Kim Han-soo was an A-class hunter, a
main tanker, with the highest defense and the best reaction time of any of them
here. He couldn't even react and was killed by a SINGLE shot?
-Bang, bang, bang, bang----!
Before he could say anything more, gunfire rained down on
the building housing the KPP Guild.
The heavy impacts were not on the level of the weapon that
killed Kim Han-soo, but they were still heavy enough.
"Kagh!"
"Dae-oh!"
A hunter fell to the ground, leaving only the lower half
of his body behind. Nothing remained where the overwhelmingly destructive
hypervelocity blast had struck.
"Damn it! We're going to die at this rate! Do you
have the enemy's position?"
"Three o'clock! Can't get a reading on the distance
because of the sand, Sir! We're too conspicuous up here! We need to get down
now!"
"Copy that! Everyone retreat in sequence!"
"What about Guild Leader's body?!"
"Ugh... We'll be back after we get out of here and
do some prep!"
Cho Ho-yeol gritted his teeth and ordered a retreat.
Under the barrage of gunfire, the KPP Guild members exited the building, and it
was only when the fastest archer, Hye-ri, came out of the building,
"What?"
Hye-ri dashed out the door at full speed and touched her
neck, which felt strange.
'It's
ticklish. Why does my neck feel so ticklish──'
-Tu-duduk
"Hye, Hye-ri?"
They looked at their fallen comrade's body and couldn't
help but recognize the drops of blood in the air.
"......Wire?"
There was a wire leading to the entrance of the building.
Running without realizing it was there, Hye-ri had literally run through the
razor-sharp wire.
'Since when?'
The hunters shuddered as they imagined the enemy waiting
to strike from the moment they entered the city.
Who are they? How many? How long have they been watching
us?
"Damn it, cut them all, we have to get out of here
somehow!"
The hunters' magic surged. Once they realized the wire
was there, it was just an annoying hindrance.
They cut through them with their shields and some slashed
with their magically imbued swords, trying to get out of the city.
Of course, the unseen enemy wasn't going to stand idly.
They hunted down the KPP guild members one by one with a barrage of machine
guns and unknown hypervelocity blasts.
"Dam──!"
In the brief moment that they perceived something, a
'wire' swung like a whip and sliced through the hunters' bodies.
"Wha?"
"Huh?"
Three more hunters collapsed in unison. A silver thread
at the speed of sound ripped through the air.
-Swish! Buk!
The slaughter was swift, barely giving them time to
realize they were dead.
"Bastard, show yourself---!"
It was yell full of terror. The screams for survival were
muffled by the sound of death and agony.
Finally, when only one of them was left, it emerged,
retrieving the wire.
"Robot...?"
Eight heavy, thick legs. Camera eyes staring in all
directions. A nightmarish design, like what you'd get if you turned a spider
into a horrible killing machine.
"Is it... Are you, Yakt Spinner......."
Cho Ho-yeol stared at the only 'monster' that existed in
this gate.
Its eight eyes locked with his, and its hideous 240mm
hypervelocity cannon and 60mm machine gun stopped firing.
'Is
it... sparing me?'
He didn't realize that the Yakt Spinner, with its enemies
completely neutralized, had made the economical choice of expending its
'limited resources'.
[What, this way I'll be able to fight without needing to
spend ammo, right?]
Its auxiliary limbs, which were probably designed for
obstacle clearing and explosives removal, were revealed.
The retrieved 'wire' was tied to an auxiliary limb. It
was released by the mechanical limb, and in an instant, it became dozens of meters
long.
"Ah......."
'I
see. It has no intention of sparing me.'
The moment Ho-yeol understood that,
-Shhh!
It was a brief moment. A swing of its appendage sent the
wire flying at the speed of sound.
A gleaming silver thread reflected the sunlight as the
sandstorm dissipated. The thin, tough silver line passed where Cho Ho-yeol had
been.
Cheongju Gate.
First raid, 58 KPP Hunters.
No survivors.
Second raid──
Third raid──
Cheongju Gate raids are hereby halted temporarily by the
Hunter's Association.
[Yappy. Protect the city.]
Gate Boss Yakt Spinner.
Gate raised to Red in difficulty.
The Hunter's Association has indefinitely suspended the
capture of Cheongju Gate.
***
Notes:
1 Means Big brother (more polite since it has ‘-nim’ at the end↩
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