Crash~!
Trying to dodge the monster, Baek Jiwoo instead got struck and slammed into the ground with a noisy thud.
“Ugh, damn, that hurts.”
Maybe it was because he’d been living a peaceful life without gates for a while, but fighting now felt much harder than before.
The pain from being hit by a monster was something he hadn’t felt in ages.
Back when he was busy closing gates all the time, he’d gotten used to this much, but even a brief moment of peace had made his body go soft.
“Seriously, isn’t there anyone who can help?! It’s chaos over here!”
“We might actually die here!”
“This isn’t the only place in trouble. Looks like we’ll have to handle this ourselves.”
The guild members, struggling to defeat the monsters, cried out desperately, but Baek Jiwoo answered firmly.
A moment ago, he had asked for help through chat, but he realized that everyone was in a similar situation.
He knew now that no one could come to help, so it was right for the Supreme Guild to take care of things in this area.
‘If only we could team up with the other guilds, maybe it’d be a bit easier.’
Besides the Supreme Guild, there were several other guilds in Gwanak District, which Baek Jiwoo ruled over.
But in the process of uniting the East Gwanak Alliance, West Gwanak Alliance, and Central Gwanak Alliance, he had crushed most of those guilds.
Because of that, they couldn’t possibly have good feelings toward Baek Jiwoo, and once the gates opened, they all split up and went off to close gates with just their own guilds.
The problem was that, in situations like this, acting separately wasn’t efficient.
‘It’d be better to work together, close one fast, and then go for the others!’
Frustrated, Baek Jiwoo clicked his tongue and ran a hand through his hair.
The situation wasn’t much different elsewhere.
“Arin! Stay right next to me!”
“Stop worrying about me and look ahead, hurry!”
“Kiieek!”
Eunhasu was busy killing monsters pouring out from a suddenly opened A-Rank Dungeon.
‘I have to protect Arin no matter what!’
He gritted his teeth as he activated the ‘Black Flame Dragon of the Left Arm’ skill on a monster flying toward Sagong Arin.
A black dragon burst from his left arm, ripped into the monster’s wing, and instantly redirected itself.
Even as he was attacking monsters, Eunhasu kept checking over and over that Sagong Arin was safe.
The moment the gate opened, he hadn’t planned on bringing Sagong Arin at all.
But then, he heard that a sudden gate had appeared nearby.
‘It’s better for me to protect her than for her to get caught up in a sudden gate alone.’
All he had to do was put a shield around her and keep her a little away from the fighting.
It was much better to keep her in his sight than to worry about her being swept up by a sudden gate somewhere out of view.
“Looks like things aren’t any better elsewhere. With sudden gates and even dungeon breaks, it’s a mess everywhere.”
Sagong Arin, using her skill to gather outside intel, wore a grim face.
Eunhasu, who had already heard the situation through chat, felt relieved looking at her.
If a monster had jumped out and attacked Sagong Arin while she was walking around town…
Just imagining it was terrifying.
He decided that when they finished closing this A-Rank Gate and moved to another, he would bring Sagong Arin with him.
With that, Eunhasu powered up to his limit.
Unlike Eunhasu, who was gritting his teeth and fighting, Yeon Hyeonggwang was slaying monsters with a relaxed air.
At least, until he checked the situation elsewhere in the chat.
“Oops.”
Effortlessly dodging a flying monster attack, he looked around.
Luckily, since he was caught alone in a sudden gate with no one else to protect, he only had to look out for himself.
Though he was startled at first, he quickly adapted to the situation and began slaying monsters at his leisure, when a new chat message appeared.
It was Baek Jiwoo asking for help.
‘What’s going on all of a sudden?’
Wondering just who this intruder was, he swept through the monsters with explosive power.
He needed to get out of here quickly and check the situation nearby.
At that moment, James and Mark, who hadn’t had a moment’s peace from the start, were busy evacuating people and slaying monsters in a hurry.
“Mark, I’m glad you’re here! I’d have had a hard time alone!”
“How could so much chaos happen right after I came to visit Korea!”
James and Mark had been enjoying a fan meeting with members of the Nada Fan Club.
Then, suddenly, that familiar feeling from when they awakened rushed over their bodies, and a loud crash rang out from the building next door.
They rushed outside without thinking and began attacking the monsters.
One of the monsters had smashed up the neighboring building and was now drooling right in front of them.
‘There aren’t many guild members who can come right now.’
In the past, James would have hurriedly called his guild members together, but that wasn’t possible anymore.
Unlike the Student Guild, which kept going even after the gates disappeared, the adults had disbanded their guilds.
Both the Black Guild led by Cha Hyeonseo and James’s guild had broken up, with their members scattering.
Most returned to their hometowns in the countryside, moved for jobs to other regions, or went abroad.
Even those guild members who stayed in Seoul lived in different districts, so there were only a handful that James could call on.
The few who lived nearby were busy closing gates in their own neighborhoods.
“This is driving me crazy, seriously.”
“What about Ban Eunhyeol? Can’t he come help?”
“Looks like he’s busy closing gates, too. It’s chaos everywhere, so there’s no one who can come help us.”
“Who the hell is this intruder, to cause all this? It’s not Nada, is it?!”
Mark shouted irritably as he and his summoned creatures fought off monsters.
Nada, as an outsider from another dimension, had closed gates tirelessly while she was here.
She had worked so hard to keep people safe and protect this world, so the odds of her being the intruder were practically zero.
Whoever this bastard was, Mark wasn’t about to let the one who ruined their fun off the hook.
Cha Hyeonseo was facing an even worse situation than James and Mark.
“This is insane.”
He couldn’t call his guild members, either.
Unlike James, who at least had Mark fighting beside him, Cha Hyeonseo was almost entirely alone, fending off monsters pouring from the gate.
The only fortunate part was that he had a skill that allowed him to handle a large number of monsters by himself.
True to his nickname ‘Blood,’ his powers resembled those of a vampire.
He could summon a swarm of bats that drained and dried out their victims, which made the battles at least a bit easier.
Of course, it was only ‘a bit’ easier, never truly easy.
While James and Mark were running wild, desperately slaying monsters, Cha Hyeonseo’s expression didn’t change at all as he dispatched them.
‘The intruder…’
He tore apart the grotesque monster lunging at him and mulled over the words he’d seen in his status window.
Was it because the last time was just a simple possession, so they got through it without trouble?
For what purpose had the intruder come here?
Dressed head to toe in black, he slaughtered monsters mercilessly, then snapped back to his senses and looked around.
‘Ah, I’m outside, aren’t I.’
Covered in monster blood, he exuded a menacing air, like a grim reaper.
Because of this, people who hadn’t managed to escape and were hiding trembled as they witnessed his battle.
Their faces showed more fear of the gruesome scene than of the monsters themselves.
‘Well, I guess seeing this is better than dying.’
Paying no mind to the onlookers, he headed inside the gate.
He’d roughly cleared things outside, so now he had to kill the boss monster and move on quickly.
Like that, everyone was struggling to minimize the damage in their own positions.
For a while, the TV stations had been enjoying peaceful days, but now everything was thrown into chaos.
Not only had the gates suddenly opened, but with so many appearing at once, even choosing a filming location was a challenge.
“They say the number one ranked American, James, is stopping a dungeon break in Seongsu?”
“Right now, the guild leaders of the Four Heavenly Kings and Blood Scent are busy taking the college entrance exam and closing a gate at the school!”
“The guild leader is stopping a dungeon break with nearby awakened, but the site is so horrific that filming on the Black channel is difficult!”
As the reports poured in, the broadcasters rushed to their assigned locations to shoot the news.
Those filming from helicopters reported on the dungeon break sites live, while reporters at the scenes near the open gates explained the situation firsthand.
With the major figures from the Four Heavenly Kings, Blood Scent, and Onsaemiro, ranked first to third, all gathered in one place, attention on Gamseong High was at its peak.
Cameras zoomed in on the gate atop Gamseong High’s roof.
“They’re coming out!”
At someone’s shout, everyone stared at the gate.
As the gate closed, the awakened who had gone in to shut Gamseong High’s gate emerged.