117. Unexpected Enemies

“What…? What?”

“What’s that?”

They all sighed. For Ko Byeong-gap, he frowned with his eyebrows furrowed.

At the current moment, there was a slight difference in what Ko Byeong-gap felt compared to the other three. Jeong Seon-kyung, Han Chang-hoon, and Shim Seung-seop. They felt pure confusion. On the other hand, what Ko Byeong-gap felt was a tiny bit of doubt.

The incident began a little bit back in time. Jeong Seon-kyung and the party diligently set out on the road early in the morning.

Ko Byeong-gap decided to help them first. Strangers wouldn’t know, but they were colleagues who had once teamed up, so nobody could send him away otherwise.

They walked diligently, ran, and sometimes killed monsters on their way to their destination, Sinpo.

At some point, however, Han Chang-hoon’s portable GPS device malfunctioned. It was around the time they reached Sinpo.

Unfortunately or fortunately, there was no incident where the party got confused. However, somewhere far away, something strange was happening that they couldn’t overlook.

A combined area of ten soccer fields was surrounded by white light. The light formed a hemispherical frame, which easily covered 60 buildings.

The party approached the unidentified ‘white space’ and stared blankly at it for five minutes.

Ko Byeong-gap couldn’t shake off the following thoughts.

‘It looks like the fog in Somnium, but what’s that blue stick?’

He raised his head. The part corresponding to the ceiling of the hemisphere was in contact with a blue cylinder. The column stretched into the sky endlessly.

‘It looks like it’s covering the inside like the fog in Ashvilam…’

“Are there people in there?”

“I don’t know, but is it just me? I don’t feel any presence over there. Do you?”

“So do I. But something’s wrong. It’s not like I can’t feel anything…”

“It feels like something’s broken.”

“Right!”

Jeong Seon-kyung replied with a flick of her finger.

It was just like what he said. The white area there was essentially different from where they stood. It wasn’t a perfect metaphor, but the ground seemed oddly different.

‘I need to touch it.’

He approached the white area. Shim Seung-seop quickly talked to him.

“What are you going to do?”

Ko Byeong-gap looked back and answered, “I want to take a closer look.”

“It could be dangerous. You don’t know what that is.”

“But I don’t want to just watch.”

“Well…”

“I think it has something to do with everyone losing communication. How about you guys?”

Ko Byeong-gap asked the three of them.

“It might have something to do with it since it was around here that the equipment went down.”

“I thought it’s suspicious too. But isn’t Seung-seop correct? It could be dangerous, and you might get hurt.”

What they said was right. Shim Seung-seop, who had been thinking for a long time, said, “Let’s get in touch with headquarters first.”

Shim Seung-seop and Han Chang-hoon went back the way they came with their walkie-talkie. For the telecommunication equipment to work, they had to be 10 kilometers away. Ko Byeong-gap and Jeong Seon-kyung smoked together and waited for the two to return.

About 40 minutes later, the two men who had left with their walkie-talkie came back with expressions as if they had chewed dog poop.

“What’s wrong with your faces?”

Jeong Seon-kyung asked straight away. Han Chang-hoon said in a voice that seemed to reduce his anger.

“Those bastards! They wasted our time going back and forth.”

“Why? What did they say?”

“Don’t touch that and search this area. But if we don’t find the subjugation team, they will bomb the place to the ground.”

“What? They want us to leave them like this?”

Jeong Seon-kyung frowned as if she couldn’t understand. This time, Shim Seung-seop spoke.

“You shouldn’t risk it. We don’t know what’s in there.”

“No! There could be people!”

“That’s possible, but they could be dead already, or they could be with a very strong monster.”

“Instead of opening Pandora’s box, they’ll just burn it entirely.”

Shim Seung-seop nodded at Ko Byeong-gap’s summary.

‘Oh my God.’

Ko Byeong-gap found it absurd, so he almost laughed out loud. It wasn’t because of the military’s ruthlessness. Rather, their response was perfectly reasonable. There was just one thing they overlooked.

‘Do you think you can break that thing by pouring in missiles?’

If that white area was similar to the fog in Somnium, it could never be broken by force. It wasn’t just a cage or something.

“What are you going to do?”

Han Chang-hoon asked, but no one answered. Ko Byeong-gap moved his body without saying a word. He ran fast and approached the white area.

Shim Seung-seop didn’t catch him this time. He just looked to see what he was doing.

Shing.

He drew his sword from his waist and gathered his strength. The aura he gathered quickly took shape. As he swiped the sword vigorously, a crescent-shaped slash was fired.

The slash passed through the white area without colliding with it. Everyone that watched was surprised, even himself.

‘What? It’s not real.’

It was like cutting through the air. Of course, the white area didn’t suffer any damage. If it didn’t have substance, then it was certainly a different kind of fog from the one in Ashvilam.

Ko Byeong-gap went closer just to make sure. He then stretched out his sword. The blade went into the white area without any resistance.

‘I didn’t think of this.’

Ko Byeong-gap, who recovered the sword, was troubled. In the meantime, the party approached.

“It’s strange. It looks like we can go through it back and forth.”

“So, let’s go inside.”

Jeong Seon-kyung acted as if she would jump inside right away. If Shim Seung-seop hadn’t grabbed her arm, she would’ve already gone into the white area.

She looked at Shim Seung-seop that said, ‘Why are you holding me?’

“If we could go back and forth at will, the subjugation team would have escaped immediately.”

“You’ve seen it, right? It passed smoothly.”

“I mean, ha…”

Shim Seung-seop sighed deeply since he couldn’t organize his words. Jeong Seon-kyung pulled her arm and shook off Shim Seung-seop’s hand. He spoke without hesitation.

“We still don’t know what’s out there.”

“No, it’s no use trying to stop me. I’ll go in by myself.”

Jeong Seon-kyung’s attitude was firm. Han Chang-hoon also supported the idea.

“Seung-seop, wouldn’t it be okay to go inside once? We can just escape right away.”

“…”

“What do you think, Mr. Byeong-gap?”

“I was thinking about going in too.”

In his case, he was more curious than wanting to continue the mission to confirm people’s lives. Shim Seung-seop finally agreed since the majority wanted to go in.

“Yes, of course.”

When his consent fell, they gathered in front of the white realm. Everyone was determined.

‘I’m not gonna die easily because I’m with three S-class hunters.’

Jeong Seon-kyung took the lead, and then Han Chang-hoon went in, and Ko Byeong-gap was the third. Lastly, Shim Seung-seop immersed himself in the white area. It took less than five seconds for everyone to enter and less than a second for their hearts to flutter.

“This…!”

As soon as they entered inside, they were completely blocked from going outside again.

***

Bang!

A brutal sound rang out because Jeong Seon-kyung used her double-edged ax with a vicious force.

However, their target, the white wall, didn’t even show pain. That said, there wasn’t even a single scratch.

“Damn it!”

“Let’s quit. I don’t think that’s going to work.”

“No, I think I’ll just need a little more! Hey, give me some buffs!”

“I’ve already got it around…”

“Oh, damn it!”

Jeong Seon-kyung hit the wall once again. The result was the same as the dozen tries she had done before. Ko Byeong-gap turned around, and suddenly, he saw the unrealistic scene in front of him.

‘I think this is Ashvilam.’

He figured.

The place was a meadow. The peak, which wasn’t so high, rose with moderate density, and the ground was covered with ankle-high grass. There was no bloody smell on the battlefield, only the clear and fragrant smell of grass.

So even in this ridiculous situation, he felt good.

Bang!

Once again, there was a bang. Ko Byeong-gap said with a short click on his tongue.

“Unnie, let’s stop and go over there. We should move, not like this.”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, let’s do it.”

Shim Seung-seop and Han Chang-hoon came with their personal belongings. Jeong Seon-kyung looked at the three of them with widened eyes. Her hair clung to her face because of sweat.

She managed to say, her lips curled.

“Is everyone okay with this?”

“What?”

“We’re trapped. Don’t you want to blame me? I asked you to come in…”

She mumbled. Shim Seung-seop only showed a fat expression.

Ko Byeong-gap shrugged his shoulders and said, “What can we do if we’re already trapped? There’s no use trying to hit it for a hundred days, so hurry up and follow.”

“And what do you mean you asked us to come in, Seon-kyung? We all agreed to come in, so why would we blame you? Haha.”

“… I’m sorry.”

Jeong Seon-kyung was down. She seemed to think that they came into the white area due to her stubbornness, so she felt responsible that the party was trapped inside.

“It’s like a dungeon here.”

Shim Seung-seop looked around and spoke.

“I thought so too. It’s kind of it?”

“Well, I’ve never seen this before.”

The space inside the white area was much larger than observed outside. It could be dozens, maybe even hundreds of times.

The party got on one of the hills and looked at the surrounding terrain. Yes, all they could see was a vast meadow and tall peaks.

‘This is…’

Ko Byeong-gap was familiar with the place. No, he was used to it. When did he experience it?

He suddenly exclaimed when he thought of his memories after a while.

‘There! The grassland where the Sarahons fought the Holy Army!’

It matched with the memory he saw when he took in Trovatin’s spirit back then. A battlefield where hundreds of thousands of troops clashed in the past. For some reason, there were no traces of it.

“There’s something over there.”

Shim Seung-seop pointed in one direction. Looking in that direction, it was north. Ko Byeong-gap could also feel the subtle presence there.

Ko Byeong-gap said, looking away.

“Let’s go. There’s nothing else we can do.”

“Yes, let’s move.”

The party walked steadily.

Except for eating or climbing a peak to check their location, they didn’t rest for an hour. Whether it was good or bad luck, they didn’t run into a single ant even though they walked like that.

The sun had set, and darkness fell. They camped on a suitable peak and walked the next day again at sunrise.

It was around the time when Han Chang-hoon experienced internal conflict, counting the remaining food. Jeong Seon-kyung, who had climbed a nearby hill, looked down and shouted.

“Hey! What in…! There!”

“What? What did you say?”

“Hey! What! What! Oh!”

The three men at the bottom climbed the hill in a hurry. As they gasped at the top, Jeong Seon-kyung jumped and pointed to one side.

“Look! Look! Isn’t there some kind of tree?”

It was a long way off. There was something there that looked like a tree, as she said. If it was just a tree, they could criticize her for being too excited by it.

However, it wasn’t an ordinary tree. First of all, the size didn’t make sense.

“It’s size… That’s… That’s like a hundred and thirty meters.”

“A 100-meter tree. That’s weird.”

“Right? That’s suspicious.”

“Let’s go take a look,”

The group moved toward the great tree and forgot to eat. Did they go on like that for about an hour? They climbed a rock as big as a tree and looked down at the oversized tree.

Without exception, the party’s face turned pale.

“This…”

“Shh!”

Ko Byeong-gap hurriedly covered Jeong Seon-kyung’s mouth. However, a groan came out of his mouth.

‘What the hell is this…?’

The tree that looked so high from afar wasn’t a tree. It was a pillar made up of thousands of monsters.

What they thought of as branches were hundreds of tentacles, and what they thought of as leaves were the bodies of smaller monsters.

Also… At the end of the tentacles, about 200 hunters hung in mummified states.

[Active: ft. White Zetsu]