Yeo Seong-Gu had a dark expression on his face as if he had realized something, but Jeong In-Chang looked as if he still didn’t quite understand what was going on.
He asked, "Gatezation?"
Instead of explaining, Lee Jun-Kyeong just walked forward faster. “You’ll understand once you see it for yourself.”
Now that they had decided to go to China, he wasn’t sure how long they would have to stay there, nor what sort of threats they would end up facing.
“This time around, I don’t think I’ll be able to help you, no matter what you have to face,” Yeo Seong-Gu said to Lee Jun-Kyeong with a determined expression. He was someone who had always helped Lee Jun-Kyeong whenever there were any emergencies.
Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled and said to his unfailingly helpful hyung, “Thank you for always helping me, but this is something I have to do alone.”
This was a path he had to walk. Although he still needed help from others along the way, he was the one who had to shoulder everything and take responsibility, no matter what adversity or what nightmare he would face. So this was something he would have to solve himself.
In fact, even if the only thing that was awaiting him was death, he couldn’t stand still. He would have to continue, trudging along step by step. Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t have any intention of burdening the people around him.
‘I’m sorry, Hyung.’
Especially Yeo Seong-Gu. Whether it was the past, the present, or even the future, until the end, he felt sorry for Yeo Seong-Gu, who had to carry the burden of many.
“For now, take a step back.”
Yeo Seong-Gu took a step forward as if he was trying to shift from the depressing atmosphere.
Thrum.
As Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang stepped back, Yeo Seong-Gu placed his hand on the blue veil, which rippled as if it were waves.
‘To think this would be a gate…’ Yeo Seong-Gu thought as he slowly gathered his strength.
What Lee Jun-Kyeong had said about China wasn’t something superfluous. To say that all of China had undergone gatezation was basically implying that the entire planet could end up with the same fate in the future.
This process must have been the cataclysm that Lee Jun-Kyeong had been talking about. Yeo Seong-Gu had recognized the seriousness of the situation and was preparing for it in various ways, but the more he did, the more he felt the pressure of the situation.
“One month,” he said as he channeled his mana into the blue veil. Bifrost was slowly being activated.
“I’ll be back here in one month. I'll be back next month if you don’t come out by then. I’ll come to wait for you here every month.”
The blue veil covering the giant wall was a barrier. With the power of Bifrost, Yeo Seong-Gu was able to suspend the barrier temporarily so they could enter, and he needed to do it again when they exited.
Although there was the chance that they would be lucky enough to escape past the barrier like the snow orcs and other monsters that charged the front line, it was highly unlikely that would occur. That was why Yeo Seong-Gu was telling them that he would be here to weaken the veil every month, which was why it was necessary to quickly finish their business and rush to the exit without delay.
Thrum.
The blue veil began to shake as it absorbed Yeo Seong-Gu’s power, and soon, it started to turn into a rainbow color.
Bifrost had been activated, and an Authority similar to Lightning was now beginning to compete with the barrier blocking China.
Slowly, Lee Jun-Kyeong walked forward.
“If…” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Yeo Seong-Gu without looking back. “If things go well inside, then there’s a chance we could come out on our own.”
“...”
Yeo Seong-Gu smiled bitterly. “I really hope so.”
“We’ll be back,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he and Jeong In-Chang finally disappeared into the veil. Yeo Seong-Gu stared at that singular point for a long time before he released his hold on the veil.
Thrum.
The light of the rainbow that had dyed the blue veil slowly disappeared.
“Whew…”
Lee Jun-Kyeong was working as hard as he said he would for the sake of the world.
Yeo Seong-Gu affirmed to himself, ‘I should get a move on as well.’
First things first, it seemed as though he should prepare more thoroughly for the cataclysm so that he could save even one additional life. That way, he’d be able to lighten the burden even just a little bit.
The footsteps of Yeo Seong-Gu felt a little heavy as he walked away from the wall.
***
Tremble.
Jeong In-Chang shivered like an aspen leaf in the wind. He was entirely wrapped in a thick parka. But, as if that wasn’t enough, he had also covered his entire body in mana. Unfortunately, the cold here wasn’t anything near normal.
“This is insane…” he muttered.
It was a cold that penetrated through thick clothes, through a layer of mana, and eventually transmitted itself directly to the skin.
"Ugh… and you’re sure that there are people in a place like this?" he complained.
It felt like a place no one could survive.
“Gooongje…”
Even the ogre mage, a princess with thick leather-like skin and strong resistance to cold and fire, was trembling like a leaf and moaning.
“Oops, I’m sorry.”
Jeong In-Chang soon realized his mistake and put the princess in his arms. The little doll soon warmed up and drifted to sleep.
"…"
Lee Jun-Kyeong left the two behind and looked around at their surroundings, his brow furrowed in concern.
"Is there something wrong?" Jeong In-Chang asked, his intuition alerting him that there was a problem.
"It's colder than I thought,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said.
"That’s what I’m saying,” Jeong In-Chang responded.
Lee Jun-Kyeong shook his head. "That’s not what I meant… I mean that it’s colder than I expected.”
Everything was frozen solid around him.
‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this yet…’
This was worse than he had thought. There definitely was something that was changing. Things were progressing faster than the original history.
‘But how…’
He wondered what had made history change. The severity of the shift in history was too great to be attributed to a change he had caused by something he had been in contact with or accomplished. He clearly hadn’t caused this.
The world was changing for some other reason.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
At that time, the ground began to tremble.
"It's a monster,” said Jeong In-Chang as he took out his greatsword in a relaxed manner after sensing the presence. It may have been the Dragon’s Bloodstone, but his greatsword didn’t seem to be affected in any way by the cold.
“Chwiiik!”
A horde of orcs, who seemed to be yelling or screaming from afar, was running toward their general vicinity. They were probably a lucky horde of orcs that had noticed the veil weakening.
“I’ll take this chance to raise my body temperature a little bit,” Jeong In-Chang commented. The orcs had made a bad choice in running toward Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang. Jeong In-Chang began bolting forward in order to chase away the cold.
Clang!
His gigantic greatsword slashed through three or four orcs at once. Snow orcs were said to be stronger than normal orcs, but it was difficult for them to block Jeong In-Chang’s attack as he had completely gained control over his Hero-Level power.
However, the behavior of the snow orcs was strange.
“Chwiiik!”
“Huh?”
Despite the fact that they were being cut down by his greatsword, the others didn’t attack him.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
They began to put more strength into their legs and ran even faster.
Flicker.
Eventually, as they began to approach Lee Jun-Kyeong, he lit a blaze. A curtain of red flames spread before the snow orcs. Since they were unable to cross the barrier, they began to melt from the extreme temperature.
“Chwii…”
Reign of Firehad grown by several stages, so it was able to generate an extremely high heat that the snow orcs were unable to withstand.
“Chwiiik…”
However, the expressions on the faces of the fallen and dying snow orcs weren’t serious. Quite frankly, rather than struggling from the pain, they seemed to be relieved.
“...”
Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang felt embarrassed when they saw the faces of the monsters who looked happy to die in the warmth rather than feeling the immense pain.
“Grahhhh!”
Eventually, a new monster appeared.
"What is that…?"
Jeong In-Chang saw the new monster after looking away from the dying snow orcs.
“The snow orcs were probably running away from it,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said in a subdued tone.
“It’s an ice troll…”
Running toward Jeong In-Chang and Lee Jun-Kyeong was a strong figure that wasn’t the least bit lacking compared to the snow orcs.
***
Everything around them was white, while in the middle in front of them was splattered with blue blood and corpses.
“Gasp…”
Jeong In-Chang let out a breath. The battle felt as if it was never-ending, so he had many questions swimming in his head.
“What the hell is…?”
Squelch.
Next to Jeong In-Chang, Lee Jun-Kyeong pulled out Muspel’s Spear from the corpse of a giant ice troll.
"Something is strange," Jeong In-Chang said to Lee Jun-Kyeong. They had barely been able to handle the monsters before them. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like there would be any further monster attacks.
“There are too many monsters, and they are too strong compared to… also…”
“Your mana is getting difficult to control, right?” Lee Jun-Kyeong interrupted as if he knew what Jeong In-Chang had been thinking.
“Yes…”
The situation flustered Jeong In-Chang, but Lee Jun-Kyeong could understand why. He felt the exact same way. The entire mainland of China was being turned into a gate. That meant it was currently being oversaturated with mana.
Naturally, the monsters here would be much stronger than in typical gates. Furthermore, as a result, it was difficult for Hunters to control the deluge of mana into their system.
Jeong In-Chang was currently feeling the effects of that.
“And we’ve only just entered it too…” he said.
“Yes, that’s right,” Lee Jun-Kyeong replied. He looked towards the distance, and there were destroyed buildings everywhere. Everything around them was frozen, seeming as if they would crumble and crack with just a touch.
"There is still a long way to go," Lee Jun-Kyeong said. They had only reached Pyongyang. There was still a long way to go to China.
“By the way…”
However, not all of Jeong In-Chang's questions had been answered.
“The reaction of the monsters is strange as well,” he said with a slightly difficult-to-read expression on his face.
“While the monsters we meet at gates all have the desire to survive, it's not to this extent… But…”
The swarm of snow orcs and ice trolls that they had just encountered were all behaving strangely. The way they fought, it was like they had obtained human thoughts and desires.
They weren’t driven by the desire for survival or slaughter, but it was as if there was something they longed for and wanted. Jeong In-Chang seemed confused by the appearance of these monsters, who appeared to be able to think and act.
“...”
Lee Jun-Kyeong kept his mouth shut for a moment and then quickly stepped forward.
“Let’s move for now.”
China was now the kingdom of monsters, and the mainland would be full of them. He didn’t know how many monsters he would have to meet and hunt before he would reach his destination.
Shiver.
Nor did he know how long he would have to endure this biting cold.
Flicker.
Of course, there shouldn’t be any major problems for the two of them due to his Reign of Fire, but he was still concerned. If it was this cold now, was there anyone else left alive?
The situation was so bad that he wasn’t sure whether the ones he had come to find would still be alive.
He did know that they were strong. In addition, they were protected by that person, who was someone that no one would be able to guarantee victory over. Therefore, he had thought to himself repeatedly that they should still be okay.
“How odd.”
But, things were still unknown, and nothing could be confirmed. The vast mass of land was as full of secrets as it was filled with ice.
“Ah.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong’s mouth opened as if he had remembered something. Reign of Fire would only be useful up to a certain point. In particular, as they moved forward, they would reach a spot where he would have to refrain from using it.
“Could you strip the hide from some of the ice trolls here?” he asked Jeong In-Chang.
“M…me?” the Hunter responded.
Swish.
Lee Jun-Kyeong silently raised Muspel’s Spear. It was clear that rather than peeling the hides off with a spear, it would be better to do so with a greatsword.
“...”
“Didn’t you bring a butchering knife?” Jeong In-Chang asked.
"I forgot,” Lee Jun-Kyeong replied.
"…"
In the end, Jeong In-Chang slowly approached the corpses of the ice trolls. "Whew… but I've never done anything like butchery before…"
“You can practice if that’s the case.”
Jeong In-Chang had tried to use an excuse while pouting as he didn’t want to skin the ice trolls, but it didn’t work on Lee Jun-Kyeong. Instead, Lee Jun-Kyeong opened his arms while gesturing to Jeong In-Chang and pointed to the land of ice around them.
He said flippantly, "It's not often that you would be able to find so many materials to practice with."
Not a single excuse had worked. In the end, Jeong In-Chang hurriedly approached the ice trolls rather than continue to complain. Since Lee Jun-Kyeong had further deactivated Reign of Fire, the cold he felt had returned to the baseline biting chill.
Slice.
Jeong In-Chang used his greatsword to peel off the skin of a giant ice troll while speaking in an exceedingly low tone. He murmured like a mosquito, “Bastard…”
Yeo Seong-Gu had a dark expression on his face as if he had realized something, but Jeong In-Chang looked as if he still didn’t quite understand what was going on.
He asked, "Gatezation?"
Instead of explaining, Lee Jun-Kyeong just walked forward faster. “You’ll understand once you see it for yourself.”
Now that they had decided to go to China, he wasn’t sure how long they would have to stay there, nor what sort of threats they would end up facing.
“This time around, I don’t think I’ll be able to help you, no matter what you have to face,” Yeo Seong-Gu said to Lee Jun-Kyeong with a determined expression. He was someone who had always helped Lee Jun-Kyeong whenever there were any emergencies.
Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled and said to his unfailingly helpful hyung, “Thank you for always helping me, but this is something I have to do alone.”
This was a path he had to walk. Although he still needed help from others along the way, he was the one who had to shoulder everything and take responsibility, no matter what adversity or what nightmare he would face. So this was something he would have to solve himself.
In fact, even if the only thing that was awaiting him was death, he couldn’t stand still. He would have to continue, trudging along step by step. Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t have any intention of burdening the people around him.
‘I’m sorry, Hyung.’
Especially Yeo Seong-Gu. Whether it was the past, the present, or even the future, until the end, he felt sorry for Yeo Seong-Gu, who had to carry the burden of many.
“For now, take a step back.”
Yeo Seong-Gu took a step forward as if he was trying to shift from the depressing atmosphere.
Thrum.
As Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang stepped back, Yeo Seong-Gu placed his hand on the blue veil, which rippled as if it were waves.
‘To think this would be a gate…’ Yeo Seong-Gu thought as he slowly gathered his strength.
What Lee Jun-Kyeong had said about China wasn’t something superfluous. To say that all of China had undergone gatezation was basically implying that the entire planet could end up with the same fate in the future.
This process must have been the cataclysm that Lee Jun-Kyeong had been talking about. Yeo Seong-Gu had recognized the seriousness of the situation and was preparing for it in various ways, but the more he did, the more he felt the pressure of the situation.
“One month,” he said as he channeled his mana into the blue veil. Bifrost was slowly being activated.
“I’ll be back here in one month. I'll be back next month if you don’t come out by then. I’ll come to wait for you here every month.”
The blue veil covering the giant wall was a barrier. With the power of Bifrost, Yeo Seong-Gu was able to suspend the barrier temporarily so they could enter, and he needed to do it again when they exited.
Although there was the chance that they would be lucky enough to escape past the barrier like the snow orcs and other monsters that charged the front line, it was highly unlikely that would occur. That was why Yeo Seong-Gu was telling them that he would be here to weaken the veil every month, which was why it was necessary to quickly finish their business and rush to the exit without delay.
Thrum.
The blue veil began to shake as it absorbed Yeo Seong-Gu’s power, and soon, it started to turn into a rainbow color.
Bifrost had been activated, and an Authority similar to Lightning was now beginning to compete with the barrier blocking China.
Slowly, Lee Jun-Kyeong walked forward.
“If…” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Yeo Seong-Gu without looking back. “If things go well inside, then there’s a chance we could come out on our own.”
“...”
Yeo Seong-Gu smiled bitterly. “I really hope so.”
“We’ll be back,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he and Jeong In-Chang finally disappeared into the veil. Yeo Seong-Gu stared at that singular point for a long time before he released his hold on the veil.
Thrum.
The light of the rainbow that had dyed the blue veil slowly disappeared.
“Whew…”
Lee Jun-Kyeong was working as hard as he said he would for the sake of the world.
Yeo Seong-Gu affirmed to himself, ‘I should get a move on as well.’
First things first, it seemed as though he should prepare more thoroughly for the cataclysm so that he could save even one additional life. That way, he’d be able to lighten the burden even just a little bit.
The footsteps of Yeo Seong-Gu felt a little heavy as he walked away from the wall.
***
Tremble.
Jeong In-Chang shivered like an aspen leaf in the wind. He was entirely wrapped in a thick parka. But, as if that wasn’t enough, he had also covered his entire body in mana. Unfortunately, the cold here wasn’t anything near normal.
“This is insane…” he muttered.
It was a cold that penetrated through thick clothes, through a layer of mana, and eventually transmitted itself directly to the skin.
"Ugh… and you’re sure that there are people in a place like this?" he complained.
It felt like a place no one could survive.
“Gooongje…”
Even the ogre mage, a princess with thick leather-like skin and strong resistance to cold and fire, was trembling like a leaf and moaning.
“Oops, I’m sorry.”
Jeong In-Chang soon realized his mistake and put the princess in his arms. The little doll soon warmed up and drifted to sleep.
"…"
Lee Jun-Kyeong left the two behind and looked around at their surroundings, his brow furrowed in concern.
"Is there something wrong?" Jeong In-Chang asked, his intuition alerting him that there was a problem.
"It's colder than I thought,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said.
"That’s what I’m saying,” Jeong In-Chang responded.
Lee Jun-Kyeong shook his head. "That’s not what I meant… I mean that it’s colder than I expected.”
Everything was frozen solid around him.
‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this yet…’
This was worse than he had thought. There definitely was something that was changing. Things were progressing faster than the original history.
‘But how…’
He wondered what had made history change. The severity of the shift in history was too great to be attributed to a change he had caused by something he had been in contact with or accomplished. He clearly hadn’t caused this.
The world was changing for some other reason.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
At that time, the ground began to tremble.
"It's a monster,” said Jeong In-Chang as he took out his greatsword in a relaxed manner after sensing the presence. It may have been the Dragon’s Bloodstone, but his greatsword didn’t seem to be affected in any way by the cold.
“Chwiiik!”
A horde of orcs, who seemed to be yelling or screaming from afar, was running toward their general vicinity. They were probably a lucky horde of orcs that had noticed the veil weakening.
“I’ll take this chance to raise my body temperature a little bit,” Jeong In-Chang commented. The orcs had made a bad choice in running toward Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang. Jeong In-Chang began bolting forward in order to chase away the cold.
Clang!
His gigantic greatsword slashed through three or four orcs at once. Snow orcs were said to be stronger than normal orcs, but it was difficult for them to block Jeong In-Chang’s attack as he had completely gained control over his Hero-Level power.
However, the behavior of the snow orcs was strange.
“Chwiiik!”
“Huh?”
Despite the fact that they were being cut down by his greatsword, the others didn’t attack him.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
They began to put more strength into their legs and ran even faster.
Flicker.
Eventually, as they began to approach Lee Jun-Kyeong, he lit a blaze. A curtain of red flames spread before the snow orcs. Since they were unable to cross the barrier, they began to melt from the extreme temperature.
“Chwii…”
Reign of Firehad grown by several stages, so it was able to generate an extremely high heat that the snow orcs were unable to withstand.
“Chwiiik…”
However, the expressions on the faces of the fallen and dying snow orcs weren’t serious. Quite frankly, rather than struggling from the pain, they seemed to be relieved.
“...”
Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang felt embarrassed when they saw the faces of the monsters who looked happy to die in the warmth rather than feeling the immense pain.
“Grahhhh!”
Eventually, a new monster appeared.
"What is that…?"
Jeong In-Chang saw the new monster after looking away from the dying snow orcs.
“The snow orcs were probably running away from it,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said in a subdued tone.
“It’s an ice troll…”
Running toward Jeong In-Chang and Lee Jun-Kyeong was a strong figure that wasn’t the least bit lacking compared to the snow orcs.
***
Everything around them was white, while in the middle in front of them was splattered with blue blood and corpses.
“Gasp…”
Jeong In-Chang let out a breath. The battle felt as if it was never-ending, so he had many questions swimming in his head.
“What the hell is…?”
Squelch.
Next to Jeong In-Chang, Lee Jun-Kyeong pulled out Muspel’s Spear from the corpse of a giant ice troll.
"Something is strange," Jeong In-Chang said to Lee Jun-Kyeong. They had barely been able to handle the monsters before them. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like there would be any further monster attacks.
“There are too many monsters, and they are too strong compared to… also…”
“Your mana is getting difficult to control, right?” Lee Jun-Kyeong interrupted as if he knew what Jeong In-Chang had been thinking.
“Yes…”
The situation flustered Jeong In-Chang, but Lee Jun-Kyeong could understand why. He felt the exact same way. The entire mainland of China was being turned into a gate. That meant it was currently being oversaturated with mana.
Naturally, the monsters here would be much stronger than in typical gates. Furthermore, as a result, it was difficult for Hunters to control the deluge of mana into their system.
Jeong In-Chang was currently feeling the effects of that.
“And we’ve only just entered it too…” he said.
“Yes, that’s right,” Lee Jun-Kyeong replied. He looked towards the distance, and there were destroyed buildings everywhere. Everything around them was frozen, seeming as if they would crumble and crack with just a touch.
"There is still a long way to go," Lee Jun-Kyeong said. They had only reached Pyongyang. There was still a long way to go to China.
“By the way…”
However, not all of Jeong In-Chang's questions had been answered.
“The reaction of the monsters is strange as well,” he said with a slightly difficult-to-read expression on his face.
“While the monsters we meet at gates all have the desire to survive, it's not to this extent… But…”
The swarm of snow orcs and ice trolls that they had just encountered were all behaving strangely. The way they fought, it was like they had obtained human thoughts and desires.
They weren’t driven by the desire for survival or slaughter, but it was as if there was something they longed for and wanted. Jeong In-Chang seemed confused by the appearance of these monsters, who appeared to be able to think and act.
“...”
Lee Jun-Kyeong kept his mouth shut for a moment and then quickly stepped forward.
“Let’s move for now.”
China was now the kingdom of monsters, and the mainland would be full of them. He didn’t know how many monsters he would have to meet and hunt before he would reach his destination.
Shiver.
Nor did he know how long he would have to endure this biting cold.
Flicker.
Of course, there shouldn’t be any major problems for the two of them due to his Reign of Fire, but he was still concerned. If it was this cold now, was there anyone else left alive?
The situation was so bad that he wasn’t sure whether the ones he had come to find would still be alive.
He did know that they were strong. In addition, they were protected by that person, who was someone that no one would be able to guarantee victory over. Therefore, he had thought to himself repeatedly that they should still be okay.
“How odd.”
But, things were still unknown, and nothing could be confirmed. The vast mass of land was as full of secrets as it was filled with ice.
“Ah.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong’s mouth opened as if he had remembered something. Reign of Fire would only be useful up to a certain point. In particular, as they moved forward, they would reach a spot where he would have to refrain from using it.
“Could you strip the hide from some of the ice trolls here?” he asked Jeong In-Chang.
“M…me?” the Hunter responded.
Swish.
Lee Jun-Kyeong silently raised Muspel’s Spear. It was clear that rather than peeling the hides off with a spear, it would be better to do so with a greatsword.
“...”
“Didn’t you bring a butchering knife?” Jeong In-Chang asked.
"I forgot,” Lee Jun-Kyeong replied.
"…"
In the end, Jeong In-Chang slowly approached the corpses of the ice trolls. "Whew… but I've never done anything like butchery before…"
“You can practice if that’s the case.”
Jeong In-Chang had tried to use an excuse while pouting as he didn’t want to skin the ice trolls, but it didn’t work on Lee Jun-Kyeong. Instead, Lee Jun-Kyeong opened his arms while gesturing to Jeong In-Chang and pointed to the land of ice around them.
He said flippantly, "It's not often that you would be able to find so many materials to practice with."
Not a single excuse had worked. In the end, Jeong In-Chang hurriedly approached the ice trolls rather than continue to complain. Since Lee Jun-Kyeong had further deactivated Reign of Fire, the cold he felt had returned to the baseline biting chill.
Slice.
Jeong In-Chang used his greatsword to peel off the skin of a giant ice troll while speaking in an exceedingly low tone. He murmured like a mosquito, “Bastard…”
