10 209

A monster emerged from a Gate that had appeared less than a day ago?

Such a thing couldn't happen, but the senior employee witnessing this phenomenon was one of the high-ranked Hunters in the country. Neither the pilots nor the junior employee were in a position to criticise him and ask him if he was sure of what he saw.

But then, sure enough....

"Over there!"

The senior employee accurately pointed out again what he saw earlier.

It was also around this time that the urgent voice of the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol came out from the headset the junior employee was wearing.

- "What's going on? What are you saying? Agent Sahng-Won! Hey, Yu Sahng-Won!! Tell me what's going on up there!"

"S-sir, it's a monster! We spotted a large monster near the helicopter!"

- "What?!"

"But, uh... I don't think it's an ordinary monster, sir."

- "Don't you know that you're utterly helpless when encountering a monster in the air? I didn't send you guys up there to find that out, so get back down here right now!"

"N-no, sir. The thing is, Association President, uh... There's a person riding on top of the monster."

- "What are you even talking about?? Hey, how can a person be riding on a mon....."

It was then, an image of a certain man that really rode around on the back of a monster entered Woo Jin-Cheol's head and his voice got cut off for a moment there.

- "Hey, Sahng-Won....? Can you see the face of the man riding on the monster?"

"Hold on, sir. Yes, I can just about make it out."

- "Could he be Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?"

"Excuse me?"

The junior employee opened his eyes wider and pressed his face tightly against the window to take a closer look at the monster, before crying out in surprise and asking back.

"H-how did you know that, sir?"

***

Kkkiiiieehk-!

Jin-Woo riding on the back of the Sky Dragon Kaisel drew closer to the Gate. Once he got near its bottom, the d*mn thing looked more like an endlessly-stretching lake rather than an actual Gate.

What a near-overwhelming size it was.

A regular Hunter wouldn't have been able to endure this extraordinary amount of magical energy leaking out from the Gate itself, but Jin-Woo remained unaffected and aloof, starting from the moment he decided to check this thing out personally, all the way up to this point in time.

He could see that the Association's helicopter far below had begun descending to the ground, perhaps assessing that it was too dangerous for them now.

Jin-Woo watched the aircraft for a little while before he got even closer to the Gate itself.

Above his head, in the distance where his hand could reach, the Gate, with its maws wide open towards the ground below, floated in eerie silence.

Of course, the portal's surface was still blocked off by the black screen so he couldn't see what its inside looked like.

'.....'

If he reached out to touch it, would he be able to enter it, or would he get sucked in like a Red Gate, or...?