Chapter 4 Part 4: Return

The largest internet gallery, the Awakened Gallery, was on fire even in the dawn when the sun had disappeared.

The reason was that the association that manages awakened beings and gates in South Korea upgraded the potential S-rank gate that opened in Seoul to S-rank.

And an emergency evacuation order was issued to all residents of Seoul.

Let’s take a look at one of the gallery posts.

―――

[Title: Gate opened in Seoul confirmed S-rank (★)]

Potential S-rank gate opened two days ago

It was just upgraded to S-rank LOL

I got a warning text at the time, but I thought it would be okay because Shin Hakcheol and Baek Ji-a were coming, so I didn’t run away.

(picture)

But the text I just got said S-rank upgrade and even a break precursor LOL

Should I run away now?

[Comment]

-You idiot LOL I won’t go far LOL

-You’re posting in the midst of this LOL It’s more important than your life LOL

-Seoul house prices will plummet;
ㄴ Shin Hakcheol will protect us.
ㄴ Do you think bald power is a joke?
ㄴ In front of S-rank, yes;

-I heard that there are a lot of people who didn’t evacuate because the frequency of gate appearances has decreased recently.
ㄴ What is the association doing? Are these guys working?
ㄴ I’m an association employee, and can’t you tell by the fact that they issued an evacuation order at this hour?

-How can two S-ranks stop an S-rank gate LOL

-Listen up. If you go into the gate right now and turn on the broadcast, you’ll get a lot of views. Go now

―――

Let’s stop looking.

The female guild member of the Wildness guild who was in charge of filming Korea’s third S-rank gate.

Yoo Haneul trembled and held the recording equipment tightly, lest it fall.

Yoo Haneul was in charge of filming alone in order to minimize power consumption.

But she didn’t realize it, but the recording equipment had long been broken due to the aftermath of mana.

Unaware of this, Yoo Haneul, swallowing dryly.

“Damn it… Take the kids and run quickly.”

“…If I go, what about you?”

She felt like she was going to faint at any moment.

Because the scene before her eyes was so shocking.

Her gaze started in front and went in all directions.

The gate’s boss, in the form of an angel, with twelve wings spread out with a calm expression, at the very front.

Right behind her, the two guild leaders staggering as if they were about to collapse.

And scattered all around, the members of the S-rank gate raid.

Finally, herself at the very back.

Yoo Haneul swallowed hard.

All this happened after the gate’s boss dropped the ceiling.

And after the raid team responded to it.

The raid team was momentarily flustered.

They didn’t forget that this was an S-rank gate, and they knew that anything could happen in any gate.

Thanks to that, they did not lose their composure.

With Baek Ji-a’s unique ability, the ceiling that fell, covering the sky, shattered into pieces.

Cultivation’s ranged attack team was divided into two, each sniping the falling debris and the angel.

Wildness’s defense team prepared for any possible attacks, and the awakened ones of the support team cast buffs on them.

Overall, it was a perfect and clean response.

There was nothing lacking, and there was no particular flaw to be found.

‘It’s going smoother than I thought.’
Yoo Haneul thought so.

Using the ability of a guild member who could move the position of others, Shin Hakcheol, who was on the ground, appeared in front of the angel and pulled his arm back to swing his fist.

Until the moment when Shin Hakcheol, who had gathered his strength, was about to swing his fist, and was hit by the angel’s wing, which flapped just once, and was slammed into the ground.

“Shin Hakcheol!”

Baek Ji-a’s cry struck everyone’s minds, including Yoo Haneul’s. Because they had responded well to the angel’s attack, they momentarily let their guard down.

And they were more nervous than ever.

Because Shin Hakcheol, who had returned to his human form, was embedded in the temple floor, bleeding and groaning at the same time.

He fell from a fairly high place, but Shin Hakcheol was an awakened being with S-rank mana, and he was even using his unique ability to transform into the shape of a crocodile.

Shin Hakcheol, who is said to withstand even bullets when using his ability, bleeding from the impact of a fall.

It was impossible.

Then the cause was the angel’s wingbeat.

A simple motion of just flapping made him like that.

Everyone was shocked.

But that made them even more nervous.

“Healer!”

Baek Ji-a shouted.

The guild member who had sent Shin Hakcheol to the front of the angel used his ability again at Baek Ji-a’s cry.

Shin Hakcheol, who was bleeding next to Baek Ji-a, was now being cared for by the healer.

“Don’t waver!”

Baek Ji-a’s shout was heard.

The tankers of Wildness, who were guarding the rear, rushed to the front of Baek Ji-a in one step and covered the sky with shields.

When the man with the largest shield covered the sky last, a large red barrier covered the entire raid team.

Then a strong wind blew.

It was because the angel flapped its wings high in the sky.

“Ugh!”

One of the youngest tankers gritted his teeth and groaned.

“Clench your teeth and hold on!”

“I’m already clenching!”

The tankers roared and confronted the strong wind.

Overwhelming mana was carried in the threatening wind. It was the angel’s mana.

Baek Ji-a quickly spread her mana in all directions, minimizing the mana carried by the wind.

But it was still threatening.

If it weren’t for Baek Ji-a, most of them would have fainted. As proof, the raid members with relatively less mana staggered.

Baek Ji-a was the same.

With her S-rank mentality, she forcibly held onto her fading consciousness due to the use of mana and looked at the angel.

And shouted.

“It’s coming!”

The angel’s outstretched wings curl forward in a circle. In the shadow cast inside, light sparkled.

It was mana.

Baek Ji-a once again put her hands forward, but nothing happened.

It was because she had consumed too much mana. As if in return, a stream of blood flowed from Baek Ji-a’s nose.

Soon, rain poured down.

The stiffened feathers flew like sharp throwing weapons. They began to be embedded in the barrier created by the tankers, making a gruesome sound.

“…Keep them in check!”

Now that Shin Hakcheol was out, Baek Ji-a was in charge of the guild members.

While the tankers blocked, and the support team steadily recovered the tankers and Baek Ji-a.

The magic and abilities of the Cultivation guild members, who were already buffed, began to fly towards the angel.

A large fireball was at the forefront.

A gentle wind created an air current, and sharp ice rode that air current.

The swords, spears, and axes that followed and flew in the sky were those of the Wildness guild members who mainly engaged in close combat. The magic and abilities of Cultivation were embedded in each of those cold weapons.

The angel’s response was simple.

She spread the wings that were curled forward and flapped them once again.

The large wings drove a strong wind that was incomparable to a moment ago.

Nothing touched.

The fire goes out and disappears.
It devours the air current and shatters the ice.

Even the cold weapons that flew in lost their strength and fell one by one.

The few guild members who used psychokinesis were the ones who retrieved them.

They realized the gap with the S-rank boss early on, and, like the support team, they returned the cold weapons to their owners’ hands while bleeding from their noses.

Everyone’s condition was not good.

The biggest cause was mana.

When the boss in the form of an angel flapped its wings, a wave of mana that was too much to handle hit them.

Even so, the reason they were holding on was because each individual gathered here was a skilled person who boasted above average.

But there were those who had reached their limits. Although there were still few, the common point of those who fell to the ground was that they had relatively little mana.

The others could not be relieved.

Baek Ji-a was the same.

A monster that breaks the association’s mana measuring device, which is said to be S-rank if it is broken within 1 minute, in 28 seconds.

Even Baek Ji-a, who is said to be the best in Korea in terms of mana, was bleeding from her nose.

“This is an S-rank single boss…”

Baek Ji-a muttered.
She expected it to be difficult, but she didn’t expect it to be this bad.

Moreover, the actual battle had only just passed 2 minutes, but the state of the enemy and allies were too compared.

An angel looking at them with a calm face.

The only difference from before was that she slightly opened one eye. She didn’t look tired at all.

On the other hand, her allies, including herself?

While it was difficult to withstand the overwhelming mana, Shin Hakcheol, who was the same S-rank, was defeated in one blow in close combat.

What should they do?
When Baek Ji-a’s mind was in a mess, Shin Hakcheol approached, groaning.

“Are you okay?”

“…I feel like I’m going to die.”

Shin Hakcheol’s complexion was pale.

“It’s physically fatal, but the most dangerous thing is the wings. The moment it touched, mana entered my body and messed it up. My ability was forcibly released.”

It was devastating news.
There was no hope to be found.

Was it too hasty to enter? At the moment when she regretted it.

“It’s annoying.”

Such a voice came down from the sky.

Shin Hakcheol and Baek Ji-a.
The two raised their heads at the same time.

What they glimpsed was the angel’s face full of boredom.
Then the angel’s motion of flapping its wings once.

After that?
They, themselves.
They didn’t realize for a moment that they were lying on the ground.

‘What just happened?’

No, was it ‘just’?

Groaning, Baek Ji-a stood up, supporting herself on the ground.

Shin Hakcheol got up a little slower, looked around, and sighed as if he had given up.

Baek Ji-a was speechless.
The tankers who were in front of her were not visible.

Could it be?
Slowly turning her head, there they were.

Everyone was rolling on the ground. It was a mess. The formation that they had practiced continuously before entering the gate was completely messed up.

It was a tragedy caused by a single flap of the wings. Baek Ji-a’s eyes widened in shock.

‘So, until now, it was just a joke.’

It was a miserable feeling.
The only good thing was that not everyone had fallen.

Yoo Haneul, who was trembling and fumbling with the recording equipment, reached the end of Baek Ji-a’s gaze.

Baek Ji-a had previously delivered a protective artifact to the guild member who was filming at the very back.

Yoo Haneul.
Her role was not only simple filming, but also to go outside the gate in an emergency and request support.

Baek Ji-a, and Yoo Haneul, who made eye contact with her, came to her senses and slowly backed away, relieved that the artifact she had provided was serving its purpose.

For her role.
She had to leave this place and go outside the gate.

Yoo Haneul finally turned her body for that, but.

“Stop.”

She couldn’t go any further due to the cool voice coming from behind and above.

“You’re making a fuss and trying to leave without apologizing? How rude.”

Yoo Haneul slowly turned her body.
Was she hearing correctly, was it directed at her?

To confirm that.

Shin Hakcheol and Baek Ji-a were equally dumbfounded. A being that speaks with intention to humans who have entered the gate.

Come to think of it, when they first encountered the angel, the angel also spoke. Although it was a sentence.

“I think I’ve already shown enough mercy.”

What are you talking about?
Yoo Haneul questioned and finally turned around.

The first thing that caught her eye was Shin Hakcheol and Baek Ji-a, who were wide-eyed at a distance.

And… the angel, who had suddenly grabbed her neck with a pure white hand.

Crack.
The pressure around her neck, the dizzying mana entering from her fingertips.

Yoo Haneul slowly closed her eyes.

Through the closing vision, the two guild leaders rushed to stop her.

The angel, who opened her eyes wide in surprise, turned her head sharply.

“H, haaa…”

Yoo Haneul sat down on the ground.
The angel’s hand released her neck. Yoo Haneul breathed roughly, and looked forward with teary eyes.

There was— a white-haired woman holding the angel’s hair, who she hadn’t even noticed even though they were in the same place.

She opened her mouth.

“I don’t know what’s going on.”

“W, wait.”

At her quiet words, the angel stutters.

She seemed to want to explain. Although it was unknown what she was trying to explain.

“I clearly warned you. Forgiveness is only once.”

“T, this is a misunderstan— Kyaaaaa?!”

A short conversation took place.
In the meantime, the white-haired woman moved her hand from the angel’s head to both wings, and then the angel began to scream in a childish voice.

The other three could only watch the scene blankly.