Hair's breadth

A fierce battle was raging, with the growls and cries of the beasts echoing through the chaos as they hurled themselves at the party. The humans fought back relentlessly, slicing and bludgeoning their attackers, even unleashing fire to scorch the oncoming horde. The ground was painted crimson with the blood of the beasts, a testament to the brutal struggle.

The party held their ground against the relentless swarm of snake-like lizard beasts.

"It's only a T2 gate" Kei mumbled

'I don't sense much mana coming through these creatures, they are most likely beasts of low rank'

As though reading Kei's thought the instructor in charge of the students started going on an explanation

"The gate is of a T2 rank, which was already discovered a week ago by the Gate Radar Team (GRT) of our city"

"Normally the gates tier is tied to the class of the Gate Guardian, which in this case would be a Monster"

Kei knew all of this in fact this was common knowledge in the age of gates. Well the gate creatures were divided into classes they were:

• Beast

• Monster

• Fiend

• Horror

• Behemoth

• Titan

• Apocalypse

• Eldritch

the highest class abomination humanity ever faced was a Behemoth of 'A' rank, which almost wiped out all humanity if not for the greatest Guardian's to join forces together and defeat it. 

The instructor continued

"The beasts currently flowing form the gate are of the beast rank you can tell by the miniscule amount of mana the emit"

"Although you can quickly gauge out the strength of a creature which can help you avoid perilous situations, but it's not always accurate"

"Creatures within the same rank can vary widely from one another due to the potency of their mana. This difference is negligible in lower-class creatures, where their mana is almost non-existent. However, in higher classes, where they possess vast amounts of mana, they can use it to significantly augment their bodies."

"These creatures can also wield abilities just like us, making them a nightmare to deal with."

"Some insidious creatures are even capable of masking their mana, appearing weak to catch their prey off guard."

Kei knew these creatures were especially troublesome because they were intelligent enough to employ deceptive tactics—at least in theory. In practice, one wouldn't realize they were being deceived until it was too late. That's why, in the rare instances when someone possessed an ability, attribute, or item that could accurately gauge the class and rank of a creature, it was incredibly sought after.

One such person was also in Liburn, She was a member of Raizo's party and currently accompanying them on the hunting expedition.

***

It has been a few minutes since the fighting started and things were starting to slow down, the tide of abomination were still pouring out of the gate but it seemed that it slowed down a little.

There were multiple dead carcasses of abominations that lay in front of the party serving as a natural defense line.

But it was far from over the gate Guardian hasn't appeared yet and the tide of creatures still flowed from the gate.

Kei was on the edge of the group of students observing the battle trying to take in the techniques and battle method of the fighters, while suddenly he felt something move in the periphery of his vision

'What was that'

He turned around to face in that direction but couldn't see anything, there nothing was moving just a empty patch of grass stood

'Maybe I'm imagining things' he thought but just then his necklace emitted a faint golden light as if reacting to something

The necklace was the (lucky charm) item that he always wore on his neck,

The necklace was his cherished lucky charm, a gift from his late father. It resembled a delicate four-leaf clover, crafted from platinum with subtle silver highlights that caught the light with every movement. The leaves were intricately designed, The chain was fine yet sturdy, as if a master artisan has spent many sleepless nights crafting the amulet.

[ -Item (Lucky Charm) is resonating to the wearer's probability]

'huh, why is this showing now', Kei infact knew what the System was saying by that message

The amulet always gave a shine and resonated before something really good or really bad was about to happen to him.

It had happened before, one time it saved him from falling into a uncovered manhole, while some other time helping him pass the exams in his academy, which he totally studied for and did not rely on the amulet at all.

So it was a surprise as to why it suddenly activated

But then he noticed something odd there seems to be footprints in the grass and it was moving in his direction fast.

A chill ran down his spine

'an invisible enemy, a creature?' he was momentarily stunned

But his body recalled the past months of sword training and summoned his (wooden sword)

By the time he snapped out from his momentary panic the footsteps were already upon him

"Shi...."

His whole body shuddered and his hair stood on end. He involuntarily reacted and held out his sword in a guard position and took a step back, it was as if he felt he would die if he didn't do that, which was a good decision.

As soon as he took a step back the air in front of his forehead was sliced at an incredible speed, his (wooden sword) was already sliced in two. He felt a sharp pain on his forehead it was a shallow wound, he was saved by a hair's breadth probably also lost a few hairs there.

[Item (wooden sword) has been destroyed]

The wooden blade fell to the ground and disappeared in sparks

Kei's brain was still a little slow and perplexed by the sudden developments that he didn't even notice the message of the system

Well it was a new experience for the inexperienced Kei. Getting attacked out of nowhere by an invisible enemy didn't happen everyday obviously.

He only managed to survive this far because of the amulet alarming him of a potential threat.

While Kei was still dazed another slash was aimed at him this time it reached to gut his stomach

Kei didn't see the attack coming but his intuition was sounding massive alarms for him to dodge, which he did by panicking and slipping and falling barely avoiding the slash.

But it seems now his luck has ran out he was sitting in the ground with no means of protecting himself while the invisible enemy was already throwing another slice at him.

But before it could reach Kei a arrow made of pure black wood and white feathers streaked through the air and seemingly stopped mid air hitting something.

Crimson blood flowed out from seemingly a point in air, the air turned hazy and a vague silhouette was taking shape.