10 Gates and Breaks
[Boss Monster
Race: Giant Centipede
Name: None
Level: 24+
Strength: 45
Dexterity: 37
Endurance: 34
Wisdom: 21
Skills: {Poisonous Fangs (D-Rank)
Effect: Everyone who comes in contact with the giant centipede's fangs will be poisoned and there is a possibility of death if not treated in time.}
Evaluation: A difficult boss monster to hunt due to its high strength and deadly poison, high Rank-E.]
As its name suggested, the centipede was monstrously large and even caused the ground to tremble with every moment it made.
Though a typical adventurer would've been quite frightened at this sight, Hans remained unperturbed while being caught in a dilemma: if he wanted to, he could easily dispatch this monster using magic, but what he needed right now was to hone his close-combat skills to maintain his disguise as an adventurer and not a mage.
After his encounter with the blacksmith, Hans understood that without following the limitations of his stealth technique, many people could deduce that he wasn't a knight.
The lack of calloused hands and his untrained movements which didn't resemble a trained knight or swordsman would betray his true class to the observant.
So he was now resolved to gain experience to perfect his deception and the best way to get it done was by fighting in these low-rank gates.
With determination, Hans decided to engage the centipede by only using his sword and would resort to magic spells only if it turned out to be too dangerous or he was about to get poisoned by the beast.
As Hans drew his sword from the sheath hanging from his belt, the monster charged towards him, rapidly closing the distance.
The distance between the two continued to diminish with each passing second: 17 meters, 13..9...4…1.
Before it could crash on him, Hans evaded its attack with a deft maneuver, throwing himself to the right, he squatted down and used his legs to help drive his sword right into the monster's body. However, the effect of his attack resulted in nothing but a mere scratch on the centipede's exoskeleton which further enraged it as the creature tried to clench Hans' limbs in its sharp and venomous fangs.
While the battle raged on as the monster attacked him left and right and simultaneously Hans tried to counterattack or sometimes save himself, a strange sense of excitement coursed through his body.
It was strange but at the same time, it was both terrifying and enjoyable.
Even with the clashing of his sword, the rush of adrenaline, the sound of his heavy breathing, and even the sound of the centipede's legs ticking on the ground, Hans remained completely absorbed in the battle as if it were the only thing that mattered and he couldn't think of anything else at the moment.
As if in a trance-like state, he continued to counterattack every move the monster threw at him, disregarding the plan of using magic or the risk of being poisoned.
After a grueling fifteen-minute fight, the centipede finally lay defeated, its head finally touching the ground, while exhausted, Hans also collapsed on the muddy ground.
"That was fun!"
Hans exclaimed as he gasped, but after a moment his mind turned blank as he thought.
'?!'
'What?! Did I just say it was fun?? I was a breath away from getting poisoned and killed but I had fun?'
How long had it been since the last time he had fun?
So long that he couldn't even remember the feeling.
But something had finally stirred up that boring life of his, allowing him to enjoy something for the first time after a long while once again.
There would always be something that he would be bothered with, be it the thought of hospital bills or the worry of his parents not waking up.
But this time, the only thing on his mind was to fight, it felt relieving and freeing as it let him not worry about anything else but enjoy the fight.
[You have killed the boss monster!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[ Your wisdom stat has been increased by 10, due to the effect of {Almighty Knowledge}, all your other stats will increase by 1.]
[The gate will close in thirty minutes.]
Upon seeing the messages, Hans got up and carried the huge corpse back to the gate's entrance.
As he tried to cross the gate carrying the dead monster's body, it almost couldn't fit through, and after getting the boss monster's body out, Hans re-entered the gate and brought out the pile of other centipede corpses.
Outside the gate, Hans made his way using the concrete path, and behind him followed two huge grotesque figures which he held using both his hands.
His right hand was holding a net that carried all the dead centipedes while using his left hand, he held one of the legs of the giant centipede and dragged the boss's corpse on the street.
As he continued to walk, two trails of blood formed on the street making the bystanders watch the spectacle with both surprise and disgust.
'I don't want to make a scene, but the only thing I did this for was money, I'm not going to let go of a single penny by leaving any monster behind.'
By the time he arrived in front of the association, someone had already notified the receptionist that a strange guy had carried monster corpses in front of the association which caused most of them to freak out, but in the end, one of them left the building and approached Hans to talk to him.
"H-hello sir how may I help you?" The receptionist was quite intimidated by Hans' condition which was enough to give chills to any normal civilian.
"I've cleared the F-Rank gate, and these are the monsters I hunted from it. They instructed to deliver the materials to the association so that they would settle the sale and the tax collection."
Hearing his explanation, the girl remained stunned for a few moments before she said, "I-I see, but, next time, could you please arrange for a truck at the gate instead of bringing them here yourself? You see, it could cause panic among the civilians."
She then handed him a little ticket with a number and explained, "Here, call this number and they'll transport it for you. Since it's a privilege offered by the association, it's free of charge."
Feeling embarrassed by his ignorance, Hans took the ticket quietly before thanking her and leaving for home.
After freshening up and changing clothes, Hans checked the messages in the system:
[Congratulations on closing the F-Rank gate: Centipede's Nest]
[You have been rewarded with the 1st tier skill: {Strengthen}
{Strengthen (1st Tier)
Description: Mana can be used to bring help, other than destruction.
Effect: The person hit with this spell will have their strength increased by 5% for thirty minutes.}]
"Wow, that'll come in handy if someone asks me about my class skills," Hans remarked.
Having had a busy day and nothing particularly meaningful to do, he decided to relax a bit and scrolled through his phone, looking for something interesting online.
[ The scandal between the actress...
[ Released the new phone: 23 max….
[ 25 steps to become a billionaire:
N° 1, mindset…]
Finding nothing of interest, he opened an app he hadn't used for years: a streaming platform.
He just wanted to see if some new games were released or not, but after taking a look he was quite surprised when he found out that the category with the most viewers was the (#awakened).
Technology didn't work inside the gates, so how were people able to stream?
Well, they didn't stream gate hunts, but gate breaks.
For example, the most-watched stream having a count of seven million views featured a gate break that happened in California on the outskirts of San Diego.
Although gate rank evaluation was B, when the guild responsible for handling the gate entered, none of them returned.
Instead, a gate break occurred, releasing Rank-A monsters that slaughtered the civilians.
During that time, reinforcements arrived from New York, America's strongest city in terms of awakened, specifically, it was the New York Defense Department's second team.
The leader of this team was a woman in her twenties with white hair and an alluring figure, her hands were covered in black gloves and she wielded a long weapon in her hands which looked like a mix between a sword and a rapier.
When the woman activated a skill, a thin layer of hoarfrost formed around and her previous sky-blue eyes turned crimson red while the relaxed look on her face turned to serious and authoritative.
She effortlessly and single-handedly swept through hordes of high-tier monsters like trolls, and following right behind her were her subordinates, who also held their own, helping each other with perfect synergy.
After an hour of relentless battle, they were finally able to eliminate all the normal monsters, and the stream was abruptly shut down right before the battle against the boss.
They probably didn't want to let the viewers watch a tragic scene just in case one of the team members died a gruesome death during the battle.
That was something that was done in almost every stream, except the most important ones, like the attack on Manhattan that happened about four years earlier.
Witnessing the second team commander, Hans couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity.
A spark of thought ignited in his head, 'Could she be the one who saved me that day?'
He recalled his recent encounter with the goblins outside the gate and the person who brought him to the hospital.
Although he couldn't remember their face, the memory of the strike that had beheaded all of the goblins and the chilly aura he felt back then remained vividly clear in his mind.
And this particular scene in the stream was extremely similar to the one he had vaguely witnessed that day.
Hours later, the battle results were posted online where out of 74 who went into battle three had died, seven were seriously injured and twenty-one had sustained light injuries.
However, Hans didn't notice them as since had already drifted off to sleep by then.
