Episode 11
#6 Arrogant Artifact (1)
When it came to physical abilities, I was pretty high up there, even among Awakeners. Even without using my talent, I always ranked in the top ten in physical assessments.
That's why I could handle being in a gate without a mana filter.
But even so, I couldn't take the Hunter exam.
Because, dammit, I couldn't deal any real damage to monsters.
It's not like I didn't try to find a way around it.
If talent's a no-go, gear up!
But regular gear doesn't do jack against the monsters inside the gates.
First off, modern weapons are totally useless against them. The best you can do is hit 'em with cold steel – stuff they used back in the Middle Ages.
And even then, if it's a high-rank monster, you'll barely scratch 'em thanks to their tough hides.
Otherwise, we'd have just nuked the gates and been done with it.
Without Awakeners with talents, there's no way to hunt monsters.
Everyone in Korea – hell, the whole world – knows that.
So, there's no way I, with my useless lying talent, can clear a gate.
But this gate I was heading to was different.
Thirty years after the first gate incident. The whole world has been developing technology to block gates with all its might.
Gate detectors, which could find gates before they even appeared, were one of those technologies. Gate detectors got better and better, and by the 2040s, when I died, they had something like an 85% detection rate.
That meant we knew where 85% of the gates were before they even popped up.
If gates weren't cleared, they'd eventually 'break' and puke out monsters, so they were almost never forgotten.
That's what made this gate so special.
Nobody knew this gate existed until some hiker stumbled on it.
And as soon as this gate was discovered, Korea – the whole world, really – went nuts.
All because of the insane artifact they found inside.
“Huff, huff.”
I wiped away the sweat pouring down like rain and cursed under my breath.
“How the hell did they find this place?”
These Korean hikers who go all the way out to places like this...
I was starting to think they were the real Awakeners.
Anyway, I was almost there.
My eyes lit up.
After the gate was cleared, this place became a kind of pilgrimage site. I'd been here a bunch of times, so I knew the area like the back of my hand.
Only, this time, there weren't any ropes or stairs to help me get down. I hammered the pegs I'd brought deep between the rocks.
I hooked the rope to them and rappelled down. My whole weight was on the arm holding the rope, and it shook like a leaf.
It was a sheer cliff, like something out of a wuxia novel, with a cave at the bottom.
Yes.
The gate was inside this cave.
It was easy to see why nobody had found it for so long.
Once I was down, I carefully stepped onto the cave floor. The cave was pitch black. I switched on my flashlight.
Just like I'd heard, there was the gate, completely dark.
Normally, a gate would be glowing and basically screaming, 'Danger!' But this one was just a solid, dark mass.
Flashlight in hand, I walked up to it. I was here to clear this thing.
I reached out and touched the gate.
“Huh.”
Other gates would just suck you into another dimension the second you touched them. This one actually felt solid.
I mean, I could actually touch it.
Weird.
I poured my mana into the gate, and it started pulling me in.
It felt like sinking into thick mud.
I just let it happen. Next thing I knew, I was completely inside.
Inside, it was a maze, a real labyrinth, like the one with the Minotaur.
The whole place was sealed off, no light getting in. I flicked on the flashlight and looked around.
Marble walls and ceilings, all covered in these intricate carvings. They were so covered in moss I couldn't make out the details, but you could tell they were done by a real master.
I swallowed hard.
Just looking down that endless tunnel gave me the creeps. Whatever was at the end of it, I had a bad feeling I wouldn't make it out alive.
But I didn't need to freak out.
Even though it looked scary as hell, there weren't any monsters.
If there were, I wouldn't have come within a mile of this place.
I was a little short on cash, so I couldn't buy Kim Jaeho, but I managed to score some useful stuff on the black market.
The best thing I got was this necklace, enchanted by some sorcerer, that could sense danger.
It was a one-use thing, only lasted two hours, but it was enough to get me halfway through the maze.
The hiker who found this place was an Awakener with the 'Luck' talent. He just lucked his way through all the traps.
But I wasn't that lucky. Gotta make do with what you've got.
I checked the necklace and moved forward.
The second the necklace flashed, I froze. Click. An arrow whizzed right past where my head had been.
“Shit.”
Cold sweat ran down my back.
I'm pretty quick, but I didn't even see that arrow coming.
An arrow that fast, even an Awakener couldn't see it.
How many of these damn traps were there in this dark-ass hallway?
I took a deep breath.
I stuck the flashlight in my mouth, held the necklace up, and crept forward.
The necklace worked like a charm.
Every time it lit up, I moved.
First, an arrow aimed for my head. Second, the floor gave way. Third, poison darts rained down.
Without the necklace, I'd have been a goner.
And the fourth time.
I swore as a spear shot out right in front of me.
I managed to roll away, but the spear still grazed my calf.
It burned like hell. I grabbed my calf and stumbled to the side.
A chunk of flesh was ripped out.
“Shit, son of a bitch.”
How the hell was that guy so lucky?
To avoid all these traps!
I was drenched in sweat.
The necklace helped, but I was still a mess of cuts and bruises. The worst was my calf, where a chunk of flesh was missing.
Groan
I pulled out a first-aid kit from my backpack. I'd packed plenty of potions for this, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to use them. I sprayed the potion on, and smoke started rising. It felt like it was searing the wound shut.
I gritted my teeth, but I couldn't help groaning.
The potion burned away the damaged flesh and started to regenerate it, slow as hell.
It felt like maggots crawling around as the skin slowly grew back.
New skin like that is super sensitive for a few days. It tears really easily.
I gritted my teeth and got to my feet.
It took me a whole damn hour to go just 30 meters.
Luckily, there was a shortcut up ahead.
That lucky bastard. Just like he said, there was a hole in the wall.
How the hell did he even spot that, hidden in the shadows like that?
I squeezed myself through.
All I had to do was follow this path, and I could skip the whole damn maze.
Guess that's what you'd expect from someone with the 'Luck' talent.
I crawled out of the hole and found myself in another corridor.
This corridor led straight to the heart of the gate.
In the middle of a huge chamber, there was a box, lit up by a beam of light from the ceiling.
“Oh, good.”
I was about to step into the room, but then I saw the necklace glowing.
“Shit, really?”
If this direction isn't right?
I tried the other way, but the necklace glowed even brighter.
And unlike before, where the traps sprung right after the necklace warned me, nothing was happening.
No matter which way I went, the necklace kept glowing like crazy.
The whole room was a giant death trap.
“That son of a bitch held out on me.”
I realized that hiker, the bastard who later became the number 8 Awakener in Korea, had lied about this room.
The problem was, the necklace was about to run out of juice.
No time.
I gritted my teeth and grabbed the stuff I'd brought from my bag. I'd packed a bunch of things, just in case. First, a gas mask.
I'd seen enough movies to know there might be poison gas when I opened the box. Then, some heavy armor. It was a bitch to move in, but it would take the brunt of any impact.
Two deep breaths.
And go.
The second I stepped inside, the door slammed shut. I was trapped.
And then water started pouring in from under my feet.
“Shit.”
I was fucked.
No time to lose.
I ripped open the box. Thankfully, nothing happened.
Just getting into the room was the trigger.
Inside was a white egg, about the size of an ostrich egg. So far, so good.
He said breaking this egg gave him his powers.
The talent that turned a lucky nobody into the number 8 Awakener in Korea.
Kaleidoscopic Change.
Most talents were locked to one attribute, but his mana was constantly shifting.
To stop that shitshow, I needed that power, bad.
I clenched my fist and smashed the egg.
The broken eggshells stabbed into my hand.
“Aaaagh!”
It was way worse than getting cut by glass.
It felt like burning iron searing my skin.
The eggshells dug into my skin, eating my flesh and blood, melting into me.
I was drenched in cold sweat from the agony.
The water was already up to my knees.
Gasping
The energy from the egg flowed into me. The pain vanished, but it wasn't over.
Because the water was still rising.
