Chapter – 06
The Knights’ Graveyard (1)
It had been quite a long time since new educational institutions for Awakened began appearing not only in South Korea but across the world.
The target of this education was ‘Awakened’ people.
The term used for those who appeared alongside the unprecedented phenomenon known as Gates.
Superhumans , Transcenders , Incarnations, etc… In the early days of the Gate outbreak, there were many names, but eventually, the two terms ‘Awakened’ and ‘Hunter’ became solidified.
So, what did they teach them? Naturally, it was ‘Skills’.
Awakened possessed transcendent physical abilities, but telling them to fight monsters inside Gates with just that would be disappointing.
The higher the Gate’s difficulty, the stronger the monsters inside became.
Fortunately, Awakened had another mysterious power besides their physical abilities — and that was Skills.
However, there was a small problem here.
Some people were born with a few skills upon awakening, but for most, their skill window was a blank sheet of paper in the early stages.
They could obtain skills by using ‘Skill Books’ that rarely dropped inside Gates… but naturally, Skill Books were expensive.
Even the lowest E-rank Skill Books were difficult for ordinary people to even see.
In bad times, there were frequent cases where people couldn’t obtain Skill Books even if they had the money.
Fortunately, skills weren’t only obtainable through innate talent or Skill Books.
[You have learned the skill ‘Thunder Calling ©’.]
They could also be taught.
Surprisingly, skills were ‘learnable’.
Although there were slight differences depending on innate talent, potential, and direction, the moment it was revealed that skills could be taught and learned, the world entered a new phase.
Every country established ‘Hunter Academies’ to educate Awakened and nurture them into their nation’s Hunters.
It was truly the dawn of the Great Hunter Era.
Among them, there was one educational institution with a slightly unique form.
That was Korea’s Four Sects.
The four major sects established across South Korea.
Blue Dragon Sword Sect.
Black Tortoise Fist Sect.
Vermilion Bird Spirit Sect.
White Tiger Binding Sect.
Instead of students, there were disciples. Instead of professors, there were masters and sect leaders.
A sect in the modern era?
Wasn’t that too old-fashioned?
Such skeptical gazes decreased significantly over time.
The reason was simple.
The sects had produced an enormous number of outstanding Hunters.
The sight of them displaying their sects’ unique secret techniques and dominating monsters ignited a fire in the hearts of many Awakened.
[Awakened from around the world gather in Korea to receive the teachings of the Four Sects.]
[‘I came all the way from Thailand to learn!’ Is Korea becoming the new ‘Center of Hunters’?]
Their prestige grew day by day, and they had now established themselves as Asia’s top educational institutions.
They had become Hunter Academies with a slightly romantic, traditional atmosphere.
“Hmm…”
A woman wearing sunglasses quietly moved her gaze.
Her name was Seong Ju-ah.
An employee of the Hunter Association and a veteran Hunter scout.
She had come to the training hall of the Sword Sect.
Since the Sword Sect boasted the highest prestige among the Four Sects, it was also quite large in scale.
“Hup! Ha!”
“Huuup!”
Disciples were swinging their swords everywhere her eyes landed.
Some of them showed quite refined skills, but…
‘Tsk.’
There were no particularly outstanding ones.
It was an era where Gates and anomalies increased day by day.
The demand for Hunters was rising, but talented Awakened were gradually decreasing.
“Hehe, how is it? Did you see any promising ones?”
A man with a bold appearance approached her and asked.
The current sect leader of the Sword Sect was away on business.
Therefore, the person greeting the guest from the Hunter Association was not the sect leader, but his proxy, Seong Gyu-ho.
“Ah… Yes. The Sword Sect is always a place with high expectations.”
“Is that so? Wahaha! Our sect has indeed produced some decent talents!”
That was true.
Eight out of ten sword-using Hunters in Korea were from the Blue Dragon Sword Sect.
That was precisely why her disappointment was even greater.
‘They’ve really dried up.’
Normally, when this many people gathered, there would be at least one genius among them.
But the ones she was seeing now were, at best, mid-low to mid-tier.
Ordinary people who didn’t even need scouting by the Hunter Association.
‘And even the one truly talented person we had slipped away.’
The one flower that had bloomed among these ordinary people — the real ‘Swordsmanship Genius’ Baek Seo-ha — already had extremely firm convictions.
‘Thank you for the offer, but I will not go anywhere and will remain in the Blue Dragon Sword Sect. I will also continue my Hunter activities under the sect.’
“What a waste…”
Just what was so appealing about this old-fashioned sect that such a genius wanted to stay?
She could only feel frustrated.
“Wow, insane.”
“Huh, is this real? He’s really going into a C-rank Gate alone?”
At that moment, chattering voices came from a corner of the training hall.
When I turned my head toward the source of the voices,
Two people were glued to a small phone screen, excitedly slapping each other’s shoulders.
“Can he even come back alive?”
“Kikik. Obviously impossible.”
“Plus, five hours…? This guy really doesn’t know how the world works, does he?”
While sects often gave off an outdated image, it wasn’t entirely the case.
In the modern era where even deep in the mountains you could get Wi-Fi, it had become a common sight to see disciples lying on wooden verandas fiddling with their phones.
“You brats! Hah, I’m sorry. I’ll make them be quiet.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s quite entertaining.”
There wasn’t anyone particularly noteworthy to observe anyway.
She was about to stand up, thinking it was time to head back.
‘Finally, time to go home!’
If she wrote the report later, she could actually leave work on time for the first time in a long while.
Her heart fluttered at the thought of catching up on all the sleep she had missed once she got home.
Viiiiiiing—
At least until a text message arrived.
[Ju-ah. Sorry, but I think you need to head to Daegu right now and help control the situation. You know we’re short on manpower these days, right? I’ve already sent a car your way, so please get there as fast as you can….]
Time off, replaced with overtime.
“…Aaaaaaaaagh! Aaaagh!”
She slammed her sunglasses on the floor and let out a scream.
***
A strange sensation lingered throughout his entire body.
When he lifted his eyelids, a completely different landscape unfolded before him.
“Wow.”
A sigh escaped him involuntarily.
Just moments ago he had been in the middle of a city, but now he was suddenly dropped in the middle of what looked like a ruined medieval kingdom.
Shattered watchtowers and ashen castle walls were visible.
The sky was blood-red with not a single cloud.
“So this is the ‘Knights’ Graveyard’? The atmosphere is even more brutal than I expected.”
The C-rank Gate that appeared in Daegu — the very Gate that caused the ‘Solion Incident’.
[Knights’ Graveyard]
Because of the scale of the incident, the ‘Knights’ Graveyard’ had been thoroughly investigated.
That information was made public to Hunters, and he remembered reading it with great interest.
“Before the proper investigation… hehe.”
The corners of his mouth curved into a smile.
The iron bracelet on his wrist that carried noticeable weight.
An item popular among Hunters that he had purchased by pouring in all the money left after buying potions.
「Spatial Bracelet」
An artifact that allowed him to open a subspace and store belongings.
He had originally planned to get it later, but—
“Thanks, little brother.”
When he asked Si-hyun to get what he originally wanted, there was money left over.
Thanks to that, this journey would be much more comfortable.
He opened the subspace and took out a long, silver case.
The core equipment for this raid that he had obtained from Si-hyun as a reward for winning the spar.
Click!
He opened the case and checked its contents.
“…Oh.”
It was impossible not to smile with satisfaction.
He carefully lifted the ‘spear’ inside.
“That guy Si-hyun… He got me something even better than what I asked for?”
There was practically no such thing as a proper ‘strategy guide’ for Gates.
Because Gates disappeared after being cleared once, any strategy guides written afterward were meaningless.
However, information about a few special Gates was recorded for various reasons.
The Gate’s structure, types of monsters that appeared, location of the boss monster, places where items were hidden…
The ‘Knights’ Graveyard’ he had entered was one such Gate where information had been preserved.
The main monsters that appeared here were ‘Wraith Knights’.
As the name suggested, they were beings who had died but were still wandering between this world and the next.
‘We were able to clear it easily thanks to the Priest’s blessings. The holy power equipment we brought matched perfectly too.’
Those were the words left behind by one of Solion’s guild members right after clearing the Gate.
「Spear of Radiance Blessed by the Sacrament (B)」
▷ A silver spear imbued with holy power. It judges impure enemies with its sanctity.
▷ Special Effects
① Intermediate Holy Power: Damage dealt to undead-type monsters is amplified.
A golden aura enveloped the shaft and blade.
A silver spear that gave off an extraordinary atmosphere at first glance.
It was a B-rank spear with the rare ‘Holy Power’ option.
Higher-grade equipment was naturally harder to obtain, but items with Holy Power were even more difficult to acquire.
‘First of all, there aren’t many of them.’
There was only one person in the entire world who could create equipment with the Holy Power option.
‘The Saintess. Veronica.’
When she bestowed blessings or sacraments on ordinary equipment, they gained the Holy Power option.
She had abundant golden hair and a mature personality.
She earned the title of Saintess because of how she bestowed holy power, but—
“Screw the Saintess.”
He had a lot to say about that woman, but he would save it for later.
Right now, clearing the Gate came first.
Anyway, it was true that Si-hyun had gotten something much better than he expected.
He would have been grateful even for a D-rank with Holy Power, but it was actually B-rank.
Even without the option, it was a spear with quite good performance.
“Khrr- cha.”
He lightly stretched and walked across the ruined kingdom.
Sandy dust brushed against his face.
Dried bloodstains were caked onto the broken roads like shadows.
Regrettably, this kind of ruined landscape felt more familiar and fitting to him now than peace did.
He recalled old memories while smelling the faint scent of burning in the air.
[Indiscriminate Murder Rampage in the Middle of Seoul]
[Solion Guild Tragedy: 120 Dead, 13 Critically Injured… The Culprit Was the Guild Master?]
The incident where a perfectly normal guild master suddenly lost his mind, massacred his own guild members, and turned his blade on innocent citizens.
Unmosaicked videos of the crime scene circulated online, and related conspiracy theories went up and down for months.
The public knew it as a terror act by a guild master who had been suppressing depression, but…
The truth was a bit different.
‘Isn’t it strange?’
‘What is?’
‘They say the Solion Guild Master wasn’t that strong. He was a veteran, sure. But how could he have taken on that many guild members alone?’
It was a conversation he had with a colleague he briefly worked with before his regression.
‘Actually, there’s a hidden truth behind that incident.’
An artifact that the government had concealed and hidden at the national level.
It was later thoroughly sealed by the leader of the White Tiger Binding Sect, but it was a forbidden item that found its owner alongside the apocalypse.
「Mad Blood Ring」
That was the clear reward of this Gate.
He wouldn’t be able to bring out its full performance right now, but—
‘It’s better than letting it fall into someone else’s hands.’
With that thought, he lightly checked the quest window that had appeared before entering the Gate.
[Quest – Requiem]
▷ Clear the C-rank Gate, ‘Knights’ Graveyard.’
▷ Rewards
① Upon clearing: 10 Exp
② Clear within 300 minutes: +15 Exp
③ Hidden Route Clear: + 「Fragment of the World」
He hadn’t declared a 5-hour clear for nothing.
How could he pass up an extra 15 Exp?
“If I get all of that, I’ll be in the 60s…!”
The EXP bar had looked endlessly far when he first saw it, but it was accumulating quite smoothly.
Since it was the early stage, they might be giving a lot, so he should stockpile while he could.
By the way—
“Hidden route… I really don’t know what that means.”
He had been thinking about it ever since this quest window appeared, but he had no idea what a hidden route was.
He had never even heard the term “hidden route” before his regression.
Given the structure of Gates where clearing the boss usually ended everything, there wasn’t really anything that could be called a “route.”
‘Well, I’ll figure it out somehow.’
He was curious about the reward 「Fragment of the World」, but he couldn’t give up the EXP for it.
It would be too regretful to miss both rabbits while trying to catch them all.
“Alright, let’s see.”
He narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance.
The boss of this Gate was inside the grand castle standing tall before him.
The shortest route was naturally to go straight ahead.
Clank—
Of course, if possible.
Clank— Clank—
The sound of metal clashing against metal came from all directions.
The friction noise swelled like a wave.
“Grrr—”
He lowered the spear resting on his shoulder and looked around.
Black ghostly energy slowly rising between heavily rusted iron armor.
Clumsy movements reminiscent of zombies.
The red glowing eyes were locked onto him.
Clank— Clank— Clank—!
The vengeful spirits of knights who died long ago along with this world.
Beings whose thick resentment resided in their armor and moved them.
These were the monsters of this Gate — the ‘Wraith Knights’.
He aimed the tip of his spear, intending to just make a path—
[New Quest has been registered.]
[Quest – Rest in Peace]
▷ Defeat all ‘Wraith Knights’, the moving dead.
▷ Rewards
① Hidden Route: Entry to ‘The Nameless King’.
A new quest suddenly appeared.
“…?”
What is this?
