CH 50

Whir.

The gate began to vibrate. Everyone in the area tensed as they stared at Gi-Gyu and the gate. The gate could break at any moment now, but suddenly, it stopped vibrating. And then…

The gate swallowed Gi-Gyu whole. 

“W-what the?!” Both the manager and Sung-Hoon gasped in shock. They clearly saw that Gi-Gyu didn’t enter the gate on his own two feet. Instead, the gate swallowed him as if it was a living creature. Slowly but surely, the gate changed back to its original color as if nothing had happened.

***

Gi-Gyu was just as shocked after being devoured by the gate. He muttered, “I knew syncing with it wouldn’t be easy, but this…” 

To sync with Lou, all Gi-Gyu had to do was name him in that weird dimension. So, he wished for this gate to be as easy as Lou; sadly, his wish was left unanswered. 

“Well, I prepared for the worst-case scenario, so I should be fine,” Gi-Gyu murmured as he looked around. A dark, dry land and a dead forest were all that met his eyes. 

[You will now be tested to see if you’re qualified.]

“Huh?” 

While Gi-Gyu was looking around to plan his next move, a system announcement rang in his ears. 

-Hmm…

Lou murmured when he heard the announcement. 

-I can’t be entirely certain, but I think it wants to test you to see if you are worthy of syncing with this Ego.

“What kind of test is it talking about?”

-How would I know? But based on what I see here, I think you can just go ahead with your original plan.

“You mean I should close the gate?”

-Exactly. I think this gate might be a little too hard for you, but…

Lou sounded concerned, which was very unlike him. But Gi-Gyu could understand why his Ego felt this way. The gate’s continuous damage effect was already at work since Gi-Gyu could feel something prickling his exposed skin.  

[You will now experience continuous damage.]

The toxin from the undead was constantly attacking Gi-Gyu; the extent of the injury was quite unexpected. Based on the scout teams’ info, the toxin shouldn’t have affected Gi-Gyu much due to his internal immunity. However, the stinging sensation was real, and it led to only one conclusion:

“The gate’s difficulty level has gone up.”

-That would be my guess too.

“Well, I guess I don’t have time to waste then.”

Slowly, Gi-Gyu took his first step. He had already noticed that the gate entrance closed when he agreed to sync with it. 

“I have nothing else to do but to pass the test.” 

Gi-Gyu was ready to battle his faceless challenger.

***

Gi-Gyu took out a potion bottle from his bag and drank it. This potion increases a player’s internal toxin immunity and was among the supplies provided by the association. 

[Your internal poison immunity will increase temporarily.]

“It tastes terrible.”

It tasted worse than a Chinese herbal medication, making Gi-Gyu frown. Afterward, he continued toward the area that gave off an incredible aura. His sharpened senses helped him immensely in finding the correct location. Also, since the gate was a simple field shape without any crossroads, Gi-Gyu could walk straight on, trusting his instinct. 

-There is a monster coming up.

“I know that.”

-Master, please be careful.

“Thanks, El.”

After a short conversation, Lou and El quickly transformed into their sword form. The two beautiful rings were now two powerful swords ready for a fight. From not too far away, a skeleton soldier was running toward them. Only white bones made up its body, and the monster was holding a rotten shield and a tarnished sword. 

“Hup.” Gi-Gyu kicked the ground to sprint toward it. At an incredible speed, he swung Lou toward the skeleton soldier. 

Clack.

Shockingly, the skeleton soldier’s heavily worn shield blocked Lou effectively. Gi-Gyu yelped in surprise, “How could a skeleton be this fast?!” He quickly distanced himself as he groaned, “Ugh…”

Of all the skeleton monsters he had faced in the Tower and the gates before, this skeletal monster was—no doubt—the fastest. Usually, skeleton soldiers were slow and awkward because they lacked muscles. But inside this gate, they were surprisingly quick and strong. 

However, it still didn’t change that they were nothing more than a bag of bones.

Thud.

Rattle.

Protecting himself from the skeleton with Lou, Gi-Gyu swung El to break the monster’s skull. Gi-Gyu murmured, “According to the scout’s report, all the monsters here should be no higher than low C-grade. But this one was definitely a high C-grade. It looks like the difficulty level of this gate has really increased.”

Gi-Gyu contemplated before continuing, “Does this mean that this gate can control its monsters’ grades?”

If that were the case, it would be a huge problem. 

-No way. I’m sure that skeleton just fought its hardest. 

“If I can sync with this gate, maybe my reward would be much more than expected!” Gi-Gyu smiled in anticipation.

***

In terms of interior, this gate didn’t have much to brag about since it was just dead land all around. 

Rattle, rattle…

Currently, Gi-Gyu was fighting for his life because, seemingly, every skeleton inside the gate was hunting him. Countless monsters ran toward him, and Gi-Gyu fought expertly. If Sung-Hoon were seeing this battle, he would’ve asked Gi-Gyu, ‘Are you the best swordsman or what?!’

Gi-Gyu alone deftly fought hundreds of skeleton soldiers: It was a majestic scene. The monsters attacked him one after another, and he dodged them elegantly as he swung his swords. 

The skeletons failed to even give him a papercut, while Gi-Gyu destroyed them with ease. 

Rattle, rattle… 

The broken bones of the soldiers covered the ground all around him. 

“Hup.” Gi-Gyu leisurely controlled his breathing as he continued to kill the skeletons. He wasn’t even using Accelerate, but these monsters were still no match for him. 

-Behind you.

“Got it.”

-Watch the ground.

“I know!”

Gi-Gyu’s heightened senses eliminated all of his blind spots, but Lou still alerted him from time to time. Initially, there were countless skeleton soldiers around him; now, they had been turned into crystals. 

Clank!

With a single slash, he shattered the last skeleton’s skull and sword.  

“Haa…” Gi-Gyu sighed. After facing so many monsters at once, he felt a little empty inside. Still controlling his breathing, he decided to take a little break. 

[You will experience continuous damage.]

“Tsk.” The skeleton soldiers failed to injure him, but the toxin was slowly accumulating in his body. Gi-Gyu had drunk several bottles of the antidote, the internal immunity potion, and the healing potion, so they were also losing their efficacy.  

“Let’s just pick up the crystals now.” After examining his body, Gi-Gyu began to move methodically. Around him were hundreds of the crystals the now-truly-dead undead dropped. 

“Hmm…” His precious stone reaping speed was excellent, but their sheer amount was slowing him down. The poison was continuously injuring him, so taking his time to pick up the crystals seemed like a waste. 

In the end, Gi-Gyu murmured, “Accelerate.”

He didn’t use this skill during the battle, yet he ended up using it to pick up the crystals. 

***

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!” A monster screamed creepily. It was a headless knight known as a durahan.

“Guess this is the mid-boss,” Gi-Gyu stated when he saw it. He was standing on a tree that eerily had only branches and no leaves. He chose this tree because he needed to look at his surroundings from high up. 

“Hmm…” He stood unstably on one of the branches as he spotted a graveyard entrance. In front of it was the durahan holding its own head in its hand. 

“And the graveyard must lead to the boss’ room.” Gi-Gyu continued to look around to gather as much information as possible. It had been three days since he entered the Yeosu Gate. He didn’t move at his full speed; instead, he had been taking his time killing as many monsters as possible. Considering this, Gi-Gyu thought he arrived at the boss’ room much quicker than he expected. 

“That durahan looks pretty strong.” Gi-Gyu could feel the shocking aura emanating from the monster’s body even from this far away. The durahan was giving off a deadly vibe, overwhelming Gi-Gyu.

-It feels pretty strong.

‘Yeah, hmm…’

-But it shouldn’t be much of a problem for us.

‘I know that, but I’m worried about the boss monster I’ll have to face afterward.’

-The boss?

When Lou asked, Gi-Gyu replied, “Considering this is supposed to be a test to sync with the gate, the monsters I killed so far were way too weak. I’m sure the mid-boss, the durahan, is also much stronger now, but I still think I can easily defeat it.”

-You think the gate focused most of its power on the boss?

Gi-Gyu nodded. 

-Don’t you think you’re worrying unnecessarily? If this gate really is an Ego, its power must be limited. 

When Gi-Gyu didn’t answer, Lou continued,

-I don’t understand the grading system you humans use to measure power. But if the gate really made the monsters stronger, I think it would’ve had to use all of its power to do this. It means that the boss monster couldn’t be that much stronger than our expectations.

“All right.”

Gi-Gyu answered and jumped down from the tree. Without even taking a breath, he began to run toward the durahan: Aiming for a Blitz attack. Gi-Gyu drank the internal immunity potion and the agility potion as he sprinted. As the potions took effect, he could feel the durahan’s deadly aura waning a bit. The last bottle he drank was the healing potion. 

Slam!

As Gi-Gyu reached the gate, he swung his sword at the headless knight that protected the graveyard. When the durahan’s giant halberd, Lou, and El clashed, a loud explosion rang throughout the gate. 

***

“Wow, dammit… It was pretty strong,” Gi-Gyu murmured as he walked on while pouring the healing potion on his wounds. 

Step, step…

Slowly but steadily, he headed toward the center of the sinister graveyard. Several torchlights were hanging on the wall, but they held icy blue flames instead of red-hot fire. Watching the glowing lights, Gi-Gyu kept walking. The path to the graveyard’s heart was downhill. It was dark and wet in the most unpleasant way, but Gi-Gyu was thankful that there weren’t any rodents around. 

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. 

"A crypt?”

He spotted a white crypt in front of a wall. He saw that he was now inside a closed but spacious area when he looked around. Gi-Gyu grinned and announced, “Here I am.”

This had to be the boss’ room. Gi-Gyu stretched and walked up to the crypt, feeling the tingling sensation all around him. 

-Hmm.

-Master. 

The Egos must’ve felt the unusual power from the crypt because they warned Gi-Gyu. But he touched the crypt anyway and replied confidently, “It’s all right.”

Clunk, clunk…

As soon as Gi-Gyu’s hand touched the crypt, it began to shake from side to side. Not knowing what was about to come, Gi-Gyu took a step back to create some distance from it. 

Pause. 

The crypt stopped shaking, and when its cover opened, a blue smoke began to drift out. 

[Are you the one who wishes to become my master?]