*
__Wiiiing!!! Wiiiing!!! Wiiiiiing!!!!
"Why is it so noisy..."
A woman barely opened her eyes at the loud alarm and raised herself up.
"It's been like a construction site since earlier...."
The ground kept rumbling, so she barely fell asleep with earplugs in, but now the alarm was going crazy again.
With messy hair, she couldn't open her eyes properly as if she had just been wandering in dreamland.
She had stayed up all night to finish her assignment and barely managed to get to bed, but this was like a bolt out of the blue.
Rubbing her eyes, she raised herself up to try and open them somehow. Perhaps because she still lacked sleep, her body felt heavy as if it were sinking into a swamp, but she couldn't possibly stay in bed.
She was angry that her sound sleep had been disturbed by the ear-splitting alarm. If the sound were a little quieter, she would ignore it, but the sound penetrated even her earplugs, so she had no choice but to get up.
"Mom! Dad! Turn off the alarm!!!"
__Wiiiing!!! Wiiiiiing!!! Wiiiing!!!! Wee-ooh!! Wee-ooh!!!
She called out to her family in the house, but her voice was swallowed by the loud alarm.
If it's this loud, shouldn't someone turn it off? She grumbled as she went outside.
"Ah... I said I was going out to play today...."
She remembered that she had an appointment today, and her family probably went out to play without her.
They asked her to go with them, but how could she go out anywhere when she hadn't slept a wink?
Since she refused, she was the only one left at home now.
"It must be malfunctioning again...."
It was a frequent occurrence because it was an old house. The sensor seemed to be malfunctioning again as it aged.
There was only one alarm that rang this loudly. A Gate detection alarm nearby.
It was very rare, but there were cases where Gates appeared around civilian houses.
It depended on the type, but there were times when monsters crossed over to the other side, and what would happen if an ordinary person encountered a monster?
It was a warning device created to prevent casualties.
It took time for the monsters to cross over, so there was time to evacuate, but if you were asleep like now, you wouldn't be able to respond and would be attacked by the monsters.
Gates appeared regardless of time and place, so the early hours of the morning when people were asleep were no exception.
The alarm device created to warn of such situations emitted a warning sound when it detected unusual Mana waves around the Gate.
They said it rang when it detected demonic energy, but would a Gate really open around here?
Like a fire alarm that rang at the drop of a hat, something must have broken down as the house aged.
"Ugh, seriously.... I told Dad to fix the alarm...."
He said he understood, but her father always put things off. It seemed that this was the reason why it malfunctioned like this today.
She was walking to turn off the alarm when she felt something strange.
Sometimes, for some reason, she felt goosebumps on her body.
She didn't have any special sensing abilities, but she felt uneasy for some reason.
"Ah.... It can't be...?"
She thought it was a malfunction, of course, but for some reason, she felt like it was dark around her.
She didn't know why, but she felt a tingling sensation and ran to the window as if possessed.
"What... What is this!!!"
What she saw outside the window was an unidentified black mass surrounding the house.
The black mass continued to emit ominous gas, which looked toxic at first glance.
"Oh... What to do... What should I do...!!!"
She felt all the sleepiness disappear. She ran to the other window to check, but there was nothing but black masses everywhere.
The black mass, which looked like a monster, was gradually swallowing the house, and there was no space to escape.
"Ah...."
The articles she saw in the news came to mind. Stories of a family being killed in a monster attack, or someone being injured.
Everyone was shocked and terrified at the first moment the Gates began to open, but they had become so accustomed to the repeated news.
She, too, initially worried that she might suffer such a thing, but she had become increasingly desensitized as she lived the same daily life.
Besides, she thought it would be safe because the Hunters would take care of it.
She didn't know that this would happen to her.
"What is this... This... Heuuuk... Heuuu-heuuuk..."
There were so many things she hadn't done yet, so many places she wanted to go, and so many things she wanted to eat.
She felt her legs give way due to sorrow and fear.
Would she have been able to live if she had woken up a little earlier?
"Professor Kim, you damn old geezer!!!"
If it weren't for Professor Kim's assignment, she would have gone out with her family and wouldn't have suffered this.
"Please save me!!! Please save me!!!"
She felt the urge to grab all the remaining hair of that old geezer.
She sat down on the floor and cried sadly. At that moment, a man came in with the sound of a window breaking.
"There's one here too. Are you okay?"
A cave-like voice that resonated in her heart, she turned her head in fear and saw a handsome man standing there, handsome enough to make most celebrities look like squids.
"Wh-Who are you..."
"I'm Kim Si-woo, a student at the Korea Academy."
"Ah..."
His smiling face, as if to reassure her, was like an angel sent from heaven.
*
Disaster always comes without warning.
Was it because I had lost my family to the Gate?
Knowing the sorrow of those left behind, I hoped that other people would not have such an experience.
Unlike what I thought, that there was no one around, there was a survivor.
If I hadn't heard someone sadly crying for help, this woman would have died.
"Kyaa!!"
Each time I leaped, the woman screamed in my arms, and I was in the middle of moving her to a safe place.
It was partly my responsibility, so shouldn't I make sure that people don't get hurt?
I can't save everyone, but I have to save the people I can save.
"But didn't you hear the sound earlier?"
"That's.... I had earplugs in...."
The truck exploded earlier, and the ground kept rumbling, but she was sleeping at home, so it seemed amazing on the one hand.
I don't know if she's brave or complacent, but I think I've saved this woman for now.
"Move to the shelter."
"Th-Thank you. Um, by any chance, your number...."
"Hurry... Go..."
Seo-ah was emitting cold air next to me, and the woman I had just saved looked like she was shrinking back.
"Y-Yes...."
She couldn't stand Seo-ah's gaze, so she ran away quickly barefoot. She turned her head from time to time, but she didn't stop and moved to the shelter.
Then Seo-ah turned her head and started staring at my face, so I had no choice but to turn my eyes away.
To be honest, I didn't do anything.
"..."
I felt like I had committed a crime because Se-ah was glaring at me too.
It would be better to change the subject in this case. The Hongryuseok next to me, which was swallowing everything around it, was a good topic.
"What should we do now?"
"It's... Still getting bigger..."
What are we really going to do about that?
The Hongryuseok keeps swallowing its surroundings and increasing its size, or can we even call it Hongryuseok now?
A giant slime that keeps bubbling like boiling lava, there were parts that were presumed to be eyes, but there were no pupils and the inside was empty, only the shape was captured.
"It's... Less gross than before..."
Seo-ah muttered next to me. It was definitely less gross to have a slime-like state like that than a skin contaminated with demonic energy on Hongryuseok's face.
That's not the important thing, though.
"Can we take that down?"
"Energy is... Gathered in the center..."
Did she manifest the Heavenly Clairvoyant trait I borrowed last time? Seo-ah was staring intently at one place on Hongryuseok's body.
[ Chosen Heroine: Yoon Seo-ah ]
[ Heavenly Clairvoyant: Activated ]
In the overlapping gaze, I could see where Seo-ah was looking.
As if that was the weak point, I could see the core gathered in a sphere inside that huge mass.
The problem was that the core was not fixed in one place and was constantly moving inside the body.
No matter how strong the attack is, if there is a difference in size, there is no special attack power.
My attack, which was fatal earlier, feels like it's not even tickling the Hongryuseok, which has turned into a giant slime.
Usually, it's common to go on a large-scale raid in this case, but the forces that can fight right now are too few.
"That looks dangerous, Oppa... Why don't we just wait until the other Hunters come?"
Se-ah, who was next to me, muttered as if it was impossible to deal with that.
It definitely looked too dangerous as Seo-ah said. Even in that state, it seemed to have the will to attack, and a long tentacle grabbed a stone and threw it this way.
I can avoid that, but then Seo-ah or Se-ah will be in danger.
"Kyaa~"
It sounded like a slightly artificial scream, but I immediately ran forward and grabbed my sword.
[ Elenenga Secret Swordsmanship: LV.1 ]
The Imperial Swordsmanship, which was Master, changed to LV.1, but its power was different from before.
If Imperial Swordsmanship was simply a skill that increased swordsmanship skills, this one took me one step further.
As I started the Mana mental cultivation technique, the surrounding air began to assimilate quickly. My Mana spread out in all directions and became as if it were connected to me.
[ Achievement: First Step to Becoming an A-Rank Hunter ]
[ You can't just be called an A-Rank Hunter just because you have strong abilities.
You must be able to control your surroundings to be a true A-Rank Hunter.
You have taken the first step to becoming an A-Rank Hunter! ]
[ Condition: Acquire a skill related to Unique Territory ]
[ Owned Skill: Elenenga Secret Swordsmanship ]
[ Reward: Unique Territory Deployment ]
It was a reward I got while learning Elenenga Secret Swordsmanship.
[ Unique Territory: Activated ]
The range is narrow and the usability is low, but if I can use it properly, I can grow unbelievably.
I estimated the distance and swung my sword.
Blue flames bloomed in the air, leaving afterimages, and the flying rock was split in half.
__Kung!!
It was an impossible attack before I learned Secret Swordsmanship. Should I call it a kind of long-range attack?
The Mana consumption is a bit high, but the power is certain.
"Is everyone okay?"
"Yes... Oppa..."
"Yeah..."
It's a bit embarrassing to see it that way, so I scratched my head for no reason.
I've saved everyone around me, and after a while, the Association's Hunters will come to clean up the Hongryuseok.
I don't know if I should leave this place, but if I run away from here, it will move towards the civilian houses.
Even if it looks like that, it seems to have some will to come to us, so.
I wanted to stop that.
"I'm thinking of fighting, what about the others?"