Chapter 10: Gates and Breaks

Chapter 10: Gates and Breaks

[Boss Monster

Race: Giant Centipede

Name: None

Level: 24+

Strength: 45

Dexterity: 37

Endurance: 34

Wisdom: 21

Skills: {Poisonous Fangs (D-Rank)

Effect: Everyone who comes in contact with the giant centipede's fangs will be poisoned and there is a possibility of death if not treated in time.}

Evaluation: A difficult boss monster to hunt due to its high strength and deadly poison, high Rank-E.]

As its name suggested, the centipede was monstrously large and even caused the ground to tremble with every moment it made.

Though a typical adventurer would've been quite frightened at this sight, Hans remained unperturbed while being caught in a dilemma: if he wanted to, he could easily dispatch this monster using magic, but what he needed right now was to hone his close-combat skills to maintain his disguise as an adventurer and not a mage.

After his encounter with the blacksmith, Hans understood that without following the limitations of his stealth technique, many people could deduce that he wasn't a knight.

The lack of calloused hands and his untrained movements which didn't resemble a trained knight or swordsman would betray his true class to the observant.

So he was now resolved to gain experience to perfect his deception and the best way to get it done was by fighting in these low-rank gates.

With determination, Hans decided to engage the centipede by only using his sword and would resort to magic spells only if it turned out to be too dangerous or he was about to get poisoned by the beast.

As Hans drew his sword from the sheath hanging from his belt, the monster charged towards him, rapidly closing the distance.

The distance between the two continued to diminish with each passing second: 17 meters, 13..9...4...1.

Before it could crash on him, Hans evaded its attack with a deft maneuver, throwing himself to the right, he squatted down and used his legs to help drive his sword right into the monster's body. However, the effect of his attack resulted in nothing but a mere scratch on the centipede's exoskeleton which further enraged it as the creature tried to clench Hans' limbs in its sharp and venomous fangs.

While the battle raged on as the monster attacked him left and right and simultaneously Hans tried to counterattack or sometimes save himself, a strange sense of excitement coursed through his body.

It was strange but at the same time, it was both terrifying and enjoyable.

Even with the clashing of his sword, the rush of adrenaline, the sound of his heavy breathing, and even the sound of the centipede's legs ticking on the ground, Hans remained completely absorbed in the battle as if it were the only thing that mattered and he couldn't think of anything else at the moment.

As if in a trance-like state, he continued to counterattack every move the monster threw at him, disregarding the plan of using magic or the risk of being poisoned.

After a grueling fifteen-minute fight, the centipede finally lay defeated, its head finally touching the ground, while exhausted, Hans also collapsed on the muddy ground.

"That was fun!"

Hans exclaimed as he gasped, but after a moment his mind turned blank as he thought.

'?!'

Effect: The person hit with this spell will have their strength increased by 5% for thirty minutes.}]

"Wow, that'll come in handy if someone asks me about my class skills," Hans remarked.

Having had a busy day and nothing particularly meaningful to do, he decided to relax a bit and scrolled through his phone, looking for something interesting online.

[ The scandal between the actress...

[ Released the new phone: 23 max....

[ 25 steps to become a billionaire:

N° 1, mindset...]

Finding nothing of interest, he opened an app he hadn't used for years: a streaming platform.

He just wanted to see if some new games were released or not, but after taking a look he was quite surprised when he found out that the category with the most viewers was the (#awakened).

Technology didn't work inside the gates, so how were people able to stream?

Well, they didn't stream gate hunts, but gate breaks.

For example, the most-watched stream having a count of seven million views featured a gate break that happened in California on the outskirts of San Diego.

Although gate rank evaluation was B, when the guild responsible for handling the gate entered, none of them returned.

Instead, a gate break occurred, releasing Rank-A monsters that slaughtered the civilians.

During that time, reinforcements arrived from New York, America's strongest city in terms of awakened, specifically, it was the New York Defense Department's second team.

The leader of this team was a woman in her twenties with white hair and an alluring figure, her hands were covered in black gloves and she wielded a long weapon in her hands which looked like a mix between a sword and a rapier.

When the woman activated a skill, a thin layer of hoarfrost formed around and her previous sky-blue eyes turned crimson red while the relaxed look on her face turned to serious and authoritative.

She effortlessly and single-handedly swept through hordes of high-tier monsters like trolls, and following right behind her were her subordinates, who also held their own, helping each other with perfect synergy.

After an hour of relentless battle, they were finally able to eliminate all the normal monsters, and the stream was abruptly shut down right before the battle against the boss.

They probably didn't want to let the viewers watch a tragic scene just in case one of the team members died a gruesome death during the battle.

That was something that was done in almost every stream, except the most important ones, like the attack on Manhattan that happened about four years earlier.

Witnessing the second team commander, Hans couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity.

A spark of thought ignited in his head, 'Could she be the one who saved me that day?'

He recalled his recent encounter with the goblins outside the gate and the person who brought him to the hospital.

Although he couldn't remember their face, the memory of the strike that had beheaded all of the goblins and the chilly aura he felt back then remained vividly clear in his mind.

And this particular scene in the stream was extremely similar to the one he had vaguely witnessed that day.

Hours later, the battle results were posted online where out of 74 who went into battle three had died, seven were seriously injured and twenty-one had sustained light injuries.

However, Hans didn't notice them as since had already drifted off to sleep by then.