Chapter 169: Tier 5 Portal Gate

“Sir, regarding the Portal Gate auction, when are we going to spread out the invitations?”

“Hold it for now. Tomorrow the Demigod guild will enter the tier-5 Portal Gate. Let’s wait for them to finish or wait for another five days or so.”

Chief Yoon didn’t understand why Chairman Yu would delay the event just for the Demigod Guild. On paper, the Demigod Guild was indeed one of the three big guilds in South Korea. But, it shouldn’t make the Hunters Association delay something for them.

Well, if it got connected with Ji-woo’s presence in the Demigod guild. Then it would make sense.

Ever since the Red Gate incident throughout Seoul, Kim Ji-woo’s name appeared out of nowhere, causing a stir among information seekers and sellers. Not only that, the news and auction about the Spatial Bag owned by the young man also surprised many hunters.

But, what surprised Chief Yoon was that Ji-woo was just an E-rank hunter.

How could a lowly hunter like that withstand the pressure from various parties regarding the Spatial Bag?

In addition, Chief Yoon also got taken aback by Chairman Yu’s attitude of letting Ji-woo use the weapon shop without his consent.

Chief Yoon was certainly bewildered by that. But, she finally realized why an E-rank Hunter like Ji-woo could live and sound without any trouble coming to his door. She already experienced Ji-woo’s strange aura that almost brought all hunters to their knees beforehand.

Ji-woo’s existence was very mysterious. Chief Yoon knew that his E-rank was a lie from that one incident. And that prediction was confirmed when she saw Ji-woo manage to stand on his two feet before the Mana Presence of an Apex-ranked hunter, Yoh Akuma.

Wanting to know about Ji-woo would accidentally get met with an oddity. Namely, the absence of Mana got felt by him. It wasn’t just Chief Yoon. Even everyone who had met him since his name started to stir up would clearly feel the strangeness.

Did Ji-woo not have Mana? That was certainly a question that often arose in the heads of those hunters. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a definite and clear answer so far.

“Ah, right! Sir, you’re not thinking about joining the Demigod guild to that tier-5 Portal Gate, are you?” Suddenly, Chief Yoon dawned upon the possibility.

“I did that. But, as the head of the Hunters Association, I can’t do that. So you don’t have to worry.”

Chairman Yu chuckled. He knew his responsibilities as a leader. He couldn’t just wander around without something clear and a definite goal. Going to the tier-5 Portal Gate just out of curiosity about Ji-woo’s actions couldn’t become a justification for him.

The long-awaited day had arrived, the hunters in the Vanguard team had prepared in front of the Demigod guild headquarters. Gang-ho, In-ah, and Dal-soo stand at the very front. They were the three S-rank and pole hunters of the guild. A far less number compared to world-class guilds. Forget that comparison for a moment. Even with the Shadow guild and the Artates guild alone, their number of S-rank hunters was far behind those two.

Previously many had asked to confirm if Gang-ho was really ready to enter the tier-5 Portal Gate. Even Hyun-bin joined in, trying to remind that it was quite a high risk.

Gang-ho replied with determination. He was confident he could take care of the tier-5 Portal Gate. Some attribute it to Ji-woo’s presence which causes the guild Headmaster to get assured that he could close it.

Speaking of the devil, Ji-woo finally came. He was the last one the Demigod guild hunters had been waiting for it.

Many guild members were busy whispering and talking about Ji-woo’s presence when they saw him walking towards the crowd of hunters on the Vanguard team. The guild member’s assessment of him had changed somewhat since Ji-woo’s video with the two S-rank hunters spread.

Of course, not everyone believed that and wanted to test Ji-woo in person. In the end, the hunters were just all talk, no actions.

The hunters on the Vanguard team were no exception to this prejudice. Some still look down on Ji-woo and couldn’t believe that the video was real.

Even In-ah and Min-ho, who met and witnessed what Ji-woo did, still have doubts in their hearts.

Gang-ho was no exception. His decision to get Dal-soo to add Ji-woo to the Vanguard team was more or less get influenced by his desire to test the young man.

Only Dal-soo got convinced by Ji-woo’s strength and presence.

“Thank you for inviting me into the team. Hopefully, it will be good cooperation for the last time.” Ji-woo said as he bowed and glanced at Dal-soo.

At first, Gang-ho wanted to return the gesture and threw pleasantries at Ji-woo. However, he frowned upon hearing the next part.

“For the last one? What are you talking about!?”

Dal-soo approached and opened his mouth before things got heated, especially after seeing Gang-ho and In-ah’s expressions. “We can talk about that later. Let’s focus on what’s in front of us. A Level-5 Portal Gate. This is something that needs our full concentration and attention.”

Gang-ho and In-ah moved their gazes to Dal-soo. They wanted to ask and wanted to know what Ji-woo meant. However, when reminded of the tier-5 Portal Gate, they couldn’t help but keep quiet and talk about it after they finished in the dungeon.

“Let’s go,” Dal-soo said.

The Vanguard team finally departed and arrived at their destination. Gang-ho once again reminded his guild members to check their preparations before entering the tier-5 Portal Gate.

Zap, Zap–

This dungeon had an area equivalent to Seoul. It really was a vast area and quite unique by having two opposite mountains. The environments were fire and ice lands. And the Vanguard team hunters appeared in the middle of it.

Zip, Zip–

“Wow! The f*ck!? One side of my body feels cold, and the other is warm.”

“That’s right. To be able to penetrate our body’s resistance means that the temperature is extreme.”

“You could say being in the midst of this fire and ice is good. I can imagine if we got close to one of those mountains. Then the temperature wouldn’t be as friendly as this.”

The closer they got to the center of the volcano, the hotter they would feel, even for an A-rank hunter. Likewise with the other icebergs, the closer they got to the center, the temperature would immediately drop to a level where A-rank hunters could freeze.

However, that wasn’t a problem for the Vanguard Demigod team. They knew not to underestimate a tier-5 Portal Gate dungeon. So, many magic items got prepared. Among them were armor and cloaks with fire resistance and frost resistance.

Without further ado, Gang-ho then divided his team of 50 hunters into five groups. They have to explore the area around them for a while. Even if they encountered Portal Gate creatures, they were only required to take necessary action, then return to their original place instead of fighting.

Dal-soo originally wanted to let Ji-woo be on another team that didn’t have an S-rank hunter. But, he changed his mind after seeing several hunters with doubtful and disdainful looks at Ji-woo. He didn’t want conflict within the team to happen. To be precise, he didn’t want any hunters to get beaten by Ji-woo while they were still in the dungeon.

In the end, Ji-woo joined Dal-soo’s group. Even if the placement didn’t pretty evenly allocate, it didn’t matter. They were still in the stage of exploring the area. Not in hunting mode.

Ji-woo initially felt normal until he became slightly uncomfortable because several hunters were bothered by his presence.

‘Well, well. Those brats would have immediately excommunicated me if Dal-soo~si wasn’t here.’

Ji-woo smirked. Even though he wasn’t bothered by it, he was ready whenever the hunters did something stupid and jumped at him. He would happily open the door of death for them.

Ji-woo sighed and used his Mana sense to check the area around him. After a while, he already had the positions of the creatures near Dal-soo’s group.

“There are seven creatures near us within a 30-meter radius.”

Of course, the hunters that doubted Ji-woo sneered with disdain while Dal-soo just nodded his head. Not long after, Dal-soo was finally able to feel the existence of the seven creatures.

Next, Dal-soo ordered some hunters to peek at the creatures’ positions and forbade them to engage.

Ji-woo didn’t bother to help. It was because Dal-soo himself didn’t say anything to him. And also, his current state was somewhat different from before.

He had increased the weight of his four instruments to a total of 1384 kg. So, if he wanted to fight with the creatures in the dungeon, of course, it wouldn’t be smooth and quiet. On another note, to move as usual was definitely not a problem for him.

Anyhow, it was a difficult task for Ji-woo to fight and expect fast movements like his previous ones.. On the other hand, it would also be an opportunity to solidify his full strength in a tier-5 Portal Gate with such difficulty.