Chapter 29: Calamity: The Fallen

The two hunters who lured the Hellhound back to the Red Gate had really worked hard to the fullest.

Luckily both of the hunters had a good combination. One was a spell caster type, and the other was a combat style type.

Even though usually the combat type was not a frontliner. But, the C-rank hunters had a big artifact weapon. So, he could be a semi-tanker to handle the aggro from the Hellhounds, and the spell caster took care of the Hellhounds that wanted to overtake them in the pursuit.

After the long run, all of them arrived at the final stage, the Red Gate.

The place was quite spacious because it was at the foot of the mountain. Even with so many Hellhounds there, it was still not crowded.

Hundreds of Hellhounds filled the area around the Red Gate. They stood baring their teeth to the hunters. And the hunters like ants in the middle of locusts if viewed from the sky.

Rrggh, Rrrr–

“Let them get stuck here.”

The spell caster hunter nodded his head. He pressed the hands’ five fingers to the ground.

“Magic of ice, Namdaemun Gate!”

Drrdrr, Zrhuuk–

The field was shaking, making all the living things above it sway around, and a 7-meters tall ice gate appeared. It formed like a defensive wall for them.

The spellcaster hunter then jumped and landed at the top spot of the ice gate, a Red Gate behind the hunters and hundreds of Hellhounds at the front.

The hunters want to do a battle with a counter-attack strategy with the Hellhounds.

The combat hunter defended and fought at the ground with his Battle Axe. And the spellcaster hunter on top of the ice gate observed the beast’s movements and attacked when the opportunity arose.

However, the spell caster already used a tremendous amount of Mana to summon the ice gate. On top of that, both of them already ran all the way to the Red Gate.

Could they last long enough until the reinforcement was coming?

On the battlefield, even though it was just a tiny bit of fatigue. It could be a deciding factor between triumph and destruction.

Every little thing couldn’t get ignored when the hunters fought with their own life on the line.

“Alright, with this ice wall. We can fight all of those beasts!”

The hunter below the ice gate tried to comfort the spellcaster above at the top spot, who got throbbing from exhaustion after casting a big magic spell.

Hosh, Hosh–

The spellcaster hunter rubbed his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand and took a deep breath for a moment.

Fuu–

As long as there was no unexpected thing happening in the middle of the clash, the two hunters were sure they could survive and took care of these hundreds of Hellhounds.

Rarggh, Rrghh–

Tump, Grsek–

The hundreds of Hellhounds ran and jumped disorderly toward the hunters at the ice gate.

Wosh, Woush–

The earth shook.

Drrrt, rrrt–

“Here they come!!!”

On the passage at the bottom of the ice gate, the combat hunter was ready with his artifact weapon, Battle Axe.

Waiting for the beast,

Bang!

A ring of shock waves suddenly burst from the collision at the ice gate passage. A bunch of Hellhounds got thrown away from there.

The combat hunter swung his Battle Axe to the Hellhounds and won with overwhelming strength despite a horde of beasts jumping at him.

Thanks to the ice gates, it reduced the impact of the Hellhounds up to 70%. Hence, only a small number of them could fit at the passage and give an advantage to the hunters at the same time.

“Good!” The spellcaster hunter felt they had a chance to dispel all of the Hellhounds after seeing the crash.

The combat hunter’s face showed a joyful expression seeing there was hope after the successful first confrontation. He gripped the artifact weapon tightly.

“Let’s carry on!”

With that, the hunters maintain the fight without much suffering while killing the beast at the minimum cost.

The spellcaster hunter could still handle it, even though some of the Hellhounds were not targeting the passage and instead tried to jump to the top spot of the ice gate.

The situation stayed the same for quite some time.

After a while, the Hellhounds did not rush towards the ice gate as aggressively as before. They just stared at the defensive wall that seemed impenetrable. It was flexing their body on the spot, not going anywhere close to the hunters.

This unforeseen occurrence made the spellcaster hunter at the top realize something. He could get a small glimpse of what was happening from all of the Hellhounds that were not moving because he had a broad view from the top.

“Crap!

“I think they have the anxiety of running back to the city?!”

The combat hunters in the ice gate passage below the spellcaster hunters were surprised to hear those words.

The hunters realized that there was a possibility the Hellhounds might go to the city again since nothing could hold them back here at the foot of the mountain.

The ice gate’s purpose was solely for defending and increasing the hunters’ survival rate from fighting the beast, not to captivate them in one place.

There was some movement at the back crowd of Hellhounds. Even though it was a little bit of change, as long as the hunter’s eyes could see it, they knew what they were concerned about was going to happen.

The hunters were hesitant and sweat buckets with this unexpected development. Far different from what they planned.

It didn’t matter how much the hunters rack their brains to think of the solution for that. It was a situation where anything became useless.

It was inevitable.

But…,

Drut, Drut–

Ratatatata–

Suddenly, there was the sound of a full-auto assault rifle firing its bullets around the crowd of Hellhounds at the rear, far away from the ice gate.

“What happened?!”

The hunters were surprised to hear the rifles buzz.

They could see a cloud of dust scattering over the area in the distance. A helicopter that caused all of this had just gotten seen flying low. The height was a bit higher than the ice gate.

A f**k*ng helicopter showed up in the middle of the fight between the hunters and the Hellhounds? What could that thing do to these kinds of beasts from the dungeon?

Nothing!

However, even an ant could hurt the giant elephant with its tiny appearance.

Although the bullet couldn’t do much to the beast, it didn’t mean it was totally useless.

It could hurt them and inflict a slight bit of wounds if the Hellhounds kept tanking the bullet with their body. Also, it restricted the Hellhounds’ movement and kept them in check. Making the beasts couldn’t go anywhere else.

The hunters didn’t know what was happening. But, they knew it was a good thing after seeing the soldiers were the ones that were firing the rifles from the helicopter.

“It seems like they retain the backline for us. Those soldiers!”

“Yeah! They are capable of holding the beast there.”

The hunters were glad they had some help from the soldiers.

“Let’s taunt the Hellhounds to make them interested in the ice gate again!”

The spellcaster hunter nodded his head at the idea to aggro the beast back on them.

The combat hunter went forward, leaving the passage of the ice gate with his Battle Axe when the Hellhounds got distracted by the rifles from the helicopter.

“Battle Hunger!”

The Battle Axe became heavier, the ground where he was standing cracked. The combat hunter swung his artifact weapon in a bit of slower motion than usual.

The swing gesture contained such a tremendous force of Mana.

Bang!

A slight tremor shifted the Hellhounds’ attention away from the helicopter.

More than a dozen Hellhounds fell prey to the Battle Axe. Even the ground got crushed by the mighty swing of the combat hunter.

Rrggh, Rrrr–

The Hellhounds took the bait. Now, their eyes were full of rage toward the hunters.

The combat hunter immediately ran back toward the passage after seeing the provocation was a success.

To slow down the chasing, the spellcaster hunter cast some magic spells on the Hellhounds.

“Magic of Ice, Rain of Arrow!”

Zret, Shew–

A small chunk of sharp ice popped out in the air and began showering against the beast. It was enough to damage the Hellhounds.

The soldiers in the helicopter sigh in relief, seeing the Hellhounds being handled easily by the hunters.

“Nice! We keep firing at the back.”

“Yes, commander!”

The Commander of the army only came with one helicopter. He couldn’t bring the other helicopter and the main battle tank to the Red Gate. He needed to make sure to leave enough protection for the evacuation site before coming to the battlefield.

The Commander even left his vice-commander and 30 soldiers behind with only bringing six people in the helicopter.

They were only the Commander, the pilot, and the copilot. Plus three other soldiers with the rifles.

The helicopter itself was not an attack aircraft type. So, it didn’t have a built-in weapon.

“For precautionary measure, let us fly higher and keep the gap from the ground.”

Dang!

Suddenly, the helicopter got jolted from getting hit with something before the soldiers could respond to their Commander’s order.

“C-comman… der… “

“What… “

All eyes automatically turned to the right side of the helicopter after the soldier shouted.

There was an abrupt change in the air, making all of them quiver in fear.

“Human… How dare…, to my dears…, “

A creature with red eyes glowing spoke furiously with a grim tone.