F-Rank Gate (2)

F-Rank Gate (2)

It was easy to guess they had a purpose beyond simply clearing the gate. The party leader and members clearly possessed D-Rank level mana, and their unusually favorable recruitment conditions raised suspicion.

They had recruited members by going out in person rather than through the internet, leaving no records. No briefing or preparation period was given, which was unthinkable for a proper gate raid, even for an F-Rank gate.

Once inside the forest, their true intentions became even clearer. This was a place I had seen before in my previous life—a place that left behind horrific memories.

Was the party leader so shocked by my blocking his attack? One of the party members watching from afar shouted.

“What the hell! You said you were F-Rank!”

I answered nonchalantly.

“I am. F-Rank.”

But unfortunately, the weapon was not F-Rank.

“Saelin, close your eyes. And count exactly sixty seconds.”

-…Okay.

Swish!

After confirming Saelin’s eyes were tightly shut, I swung Mukyeon and swiftly severed the party leader’s neck. Then I flicked his headless body into the tub.

-1.

“Hii! Eek!”

The reaction of these people, accustomed to killing, to their leader’s death was almost comical. They probably sensed they were next.

“What are you scared of? This is what you do all the time.”

The thick scent of blood hung in the forest. I could tell immediately—this wasn’t their first time.

At first, it was probably accidental. Blood had flowed into that hole by chance. Then a system message must have appeared.

[Hidden condition revealed.]

[Pour blood into the central hole. (0/???)]

Yes, just like the message appearing before my eyes now. But they had no way of knowing how much or what kind of blood was required.

They might have started with monster or animal blood. Then, once a full person’s blood was poured, another system message would have appeared.

From then on, they likely became obsessed with using human blood.

Typically, F-Rank gates end with simply destroying the core. But when special hidden conditions appear, special rewards follow.

Such “special” or “hidden” things drive Hunters mad, promising greater power and easy money.

But blinded by this, they overlooked one thing.

For hidden conditions, the more you understand the truth, the more the conditions change. In other words, you have to think and deduce the conditions like a riddle or twenty questions.

But you can’t just throw out guesses randomly. You need evidence, conviction, and to show it through your actions.

In truth, not much human blood was needed—just enough to awaken the “monster” below.

However, they missed one point: like fresh food tastes better, the blood had to be fresh—freshly spilled from a recently dead person.

And it had to be poured all at once, without intervals.

Only then would the fresh scent and taste awaken the silent monster’s appetite. Too little blood wouldn’t wake it, and too much might satisfy it and put it back to sleep.

The perfect amount was exactly…

‘About four people.’

-15.

Exactly the number of people in that party.

“O-Don’t come!”

As I slowly approached one party member, he sensed death and staggered back, his face pale as he shouted.

“You think killing us here will be the end?! We have a guild that works with us! They won’t let you get away with this!”

I paused for a moment, and sensing his confidence, he sneered and said boldly,

“Since you know now, stop killing us…!”

Swish! Before he finished, I closed the distance and cut his neck with Mukyeon, then threw him into the tub.

-30.

Half the party was already gone. Only the archer and a mage remained.

The reason I deliberately fell for their sweet talk and trap was simple.

They were weaker than me. Though D-Rank, their level was embarrassingly low compared to the veteran party I’d faced before.

The clearest proof was that they failed to immediately gauge Saelin’s mana level. The metal composing Saelin made her mana difficult to detect, but their failure alone showed they were beneath my level.

I approached the mage. Cornered against the cave wall with nowhere to run, he trembled, raising his wand toward me.

The wand glowed brightly, shooting a powerful golden lightning bolt shaped like a jagged streak at me.

“Die, you bastard!”

[Lightning]

Crackle! The yellow current crackled noisily, striking the ground near me with destructive force, sending dust swirling and blurring my vision.

“Ha… haha! An F-Rank getting cocky…”

The mage laughed hollowly, thinking he had landed a perfect hit. It was his last laugh.

Swish!

The dust parted along Mukyeon’s blade as the mage’s neck slanted downward. Another corpse was added to the tub.

-50.

Whoosh!

I blocked an arrow flying from a blind spot with Mukyeon. It seemed the archer tried to capitalize on the mage’s sacrifice with a critical strike, but it posed no real threat.

-51.

I slowly approached the last remaining party member. Terrified, she fired arrows wildly, but she wasn’t clumsy enough to hit with blind shots.

-52.

Seeing no hope in this deathly situation, she seemed to choose desperation over survival.

-53.

She quickly scanned the area. As an archer, her eyesight was sharp. Her gaze shifted—not to me, but to someone else.

-54.

It was Saelin, who had her eyes closed, counting.

Regardless, I calmly closed the distance to her.

-55.

Realizing the distance, she hastily drew her bowstring and shot at Saelin.

-56.

The arrow flew straight at Saelin but grazed her head, likely due to the rushed shot. The wind pressure from the arrow knocked back the hat Saelin had been wearing low over her face.

-57.

Despair clouded her eyes. She must have sensed it was over—that she could do nothing more.

She couldn’t hurt me. And hurting a child she thought was human but was actually a machine was even more impossible.

“Monster…”

-58.

Swish!

I cleanly cut her neck with Mukyeon and tossed her into the tub as well.

-59.

‘Monster.’

Was that meant for me? Or for Saelin? Now that the speaker was dead, it was impossible to know.

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, I should have learned the name of the guild they worked with. But it didn’t matter. Once this reached their ears, they would respond somehow—and it was only a matter of time before I caught their tail.

There weren’t many guilds shady enough to openly bring people into gates for human hunting. Such a guild would have to be sizable.

-60.

I shook the blood off Mukyeon’s blade and quickly approached Saelin. She opened her bright eyes after finishing counting to sixty.

“Good girl, Saelin. You listened well.”

Saelin smiled awkwardly. At first, I thought it was a mechanical defect, but even after fixing it, she seemed to have trouble smiling naturally.

I gently patted her head, then adjusted her hat, which had been slightly disheveled by the arrow, and turned my gaze back to the tub.

Saelin tried to look too, but I immediately covered her eyes again. I couldn’t show such a cruel sight to a child.

Peering carefully at the tub, I saw blood slowly dripping from the corpses into the hole.

Soon, the blood flow from the corpses would stop one by one. When all the blood ceased, a change would begin.

The monster sleeping beneath this chamber would awaken.