From Today, I'm a Player

“We will be entering the gate!”

Time had started to slow down since the appearance of Demetrios, Heracles, and now finally stopped. It was time to begin the gate raid.

Demetrios stretched and relaxed. Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang walked slowly, and they made eye contact with him.

Kekeke.

He laughed, the sound reminiscent of a beast who had encountered a delicious prey he hadn’t seen in so long. Jeong In-Chang trembled while Lee Jun-Kyeong moved forward woodenly and dismissed it.

“I’m telling you, it's making me really excited.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong’s reaction seemed to have provoked him even further. The giant bared his teeth, raising his bloodlust to the fullest.

“Demetrios. Are you going to keep standing here like this? We’re in front of the gate you’ve been waiting for.”

If it wasn’t for George standing next to him, Demetrios could very well have clashed with Lee Jun-Kyeong before even entering the gate. However, George hastily urged Demetrios on

“I got it.”

Fortunately, Demetrios followed along.

‘Damn it.’

Unlike Demetrios, who was excited by his anticipation, George’s heart was beating nervously.

‘That girl should be the one coming.’

This morning, a messenger came from Olympus. Demetrios had broken Olympus's orders, and they sent a messenger to punish him. Even up until then, George wasn’t all that nervous. It wasn’t until he had heard that name that the blood in his body seemed to freeze all over.

Apparently, a Hunter with the nickname the Maiden in Olympus was the one who was sent to England for the punishment.

“George. Like you said earlier, do you plan on staying here all day?” Demetrios jeered.

However, George had no choice but to shake off his thoughts.

"Let's go quickly. The battlefield awaits me."

Demetrios had been incited to the point of bursting, and was urging George to move. Thus, George began to walk forward again. Either way, even if she were to come, the gate raid would be over by the time she arrived, and the two of them would have already won.

‘The only way to avoid disciplinary action is to gain recognition from that achievement.’

If it was the Maiden…

‘Not even this guy can stop her.’

George had an array of conflicting feelings, which was basically Odysseus’s fate.

The Hunters had been moving slowly and had begun to enter the gate one by one.

“HAHAHAHA! Good! Very Good!”

“...”

Finally, Demetrios and George also entered the gate. All that was left was…

"Mr. Jeong."

…Jeong In-Chang and Lee Jun-Kyeong, and some other Hunters who seemed to be aiming for something.

“Yes,” he answered with a nervous face.

“When you enter the gate…”

Before long, the two of them also stood in front of the gate. Lee Jun-Kyeong had one foot through the portal as he looked straight at Jeong In-Chang and said, “Flee first.”

And with that, Lee Jun-Kyeong completely surrendered himself to the gate.

***

[You have entered the Catylon Mountain Gate.]

Jeong In-Chang had entered the gate a little later than Lee Jun-Kyeong, and heard a ringing noise in his ear.

‘Did he say to flee?’

He was still pondering what Lee Jun-Kyeong had told him. They had made tremendous preparations to deal with Heracles so far, but as if it had been meaningless, Lee Jun-Kyeong told him to flee as soon as he entered the gate.

Before he had been able to ask him for what reason or what he actually meant, Lee Jun-Kyeong had entered the gate. Jeong In-Chang had still been able to enter, only one step behind. While he was still in the middle of his musing, he soon understood why Lee Jun-Kyeong had warned him.

“W…What is this…?”

His field of vision was so blurry that there was nothing visible. He was sure that he had heard that the Catylon Mountain had vast plains and high mountains from the Association that had scouted the gate earlier. There was no mention of the terrible smoke and dust.

And…

“AHHHHHH!”

Jeong In-Chang, who was looking around with suspicion at the sight before him, heard someone’s desperate scream.

BANG!

Following it, the sound of explosions. And like that, Jeong In-Chang remembered Lee Jun-Kyeong’s warning and began running at full speed.

Tak tak tak!

Finding the cause of the current anomaly was a matter for later. Jeong In-Chang’s surroundings were filled with horrifying mana and a killing aura to match.

"S, save me…"

"Please…"

However, Jeong In-Chang had no choice but to keep walking. As he crossed the smoke-filled space, he saw the remnants of the Hunters who had entered first.

They had either been torn into pieces or were currently limbless and begging for their lives.

“...”

‘I can’t.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong had told him to run away. However, regardless of the fact that they were Hunters who had chosen to fight against them in the Battle of Champions, he couldn’t leave them behind.

“Here, a potion!”

It might have been different if he had faced them in a fair duel or fight, but he couldn’t just abandon them and let them die in this incomprehensible situation. Jeong In-Chang spoke while pouring the potions in his inventory over them.

“What the hell is going on?”

They were all strong Hunters. He wondered if there was a monster here that could make them all like this. It could have been plausible if a boss had attacked them, but there was no way that it would have shown up from the very beginning.

“...”

Unfortunately, these Hunters were so injured that potions alone weren’t enough. Despite his quick actions, they died. In the end, Jeong In-Chang wasn’t able to get the answer he was looking for.

And then, he felt something move behind him.

"…!"

He quickly raised his greatsword with both hands and spun.

Clang!

Something collided with his greatsword and let out a roar. Jeong In-Chang slid back, and the impact that traveled through the greatsword made him tremble.

He then saw it.

"Are you that guy that was with the Underdog?"

There were two eyes shining in the smoke and a set of white teeth. Jeong In-Chang was able to guess the identity of the opponent just from the voice he heard.

‘Demetrios…!’

Jeong In-Chang soon understood the situation. It was a man. A man had created this indescribable horror.

"It looks like the Underdog isn’t with you,” said the giant.

Then, the smoke began to clear, and the reason it suddenly disappeared was simple.

Whoosh!

The giant had windmilled his fists before rapidly shooting forward, and the wind caused by the rotational force shifted the smoke away. His appearance was revealed. Fortunately, Jeong In-Chang still had the greatsword in hand and was already in a defensive position, as Demetrios’ fist came rushing in as if it was trying to break the giant blade.

Clang!

The assault continued.

“Cough!”

In the end, Jeong In-Chang vomited blood, and only one word came to his mind. 𝑏𝘦𝘥𝑛𝘰𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝑐𝘰𝑚

‘Monster.’

Demetrios was a Hunter who was more suitable for the name monster than a monster itselfDemetrios. The giant moved again and tried to aim for Jeong In-Chang. However, a flame came out of nowhere.

Flicker.

Pop, pop, pop, pop! Bang! Pow!

It mixed in with the dust and caused a chain explosion. Demetrios flinched for a moment and stepped back. At the same time, Jeong In-Chang heard a familiar voice.

“Are you okay?”

It was Lee Jun-Kyeong. The other man quickly put Jeong In-Chang on his back and spat out a single sentence, “I told you to flee immediately.”

“...”

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked over at Demetrios, who had stepped back due to the explosions.

Although it was clear that the giant had definitely suffered damage from the chain explosion, Demetrios still smiled at Lee Jun-Kyeong. Lee Jun-Kyeong shook his head at the giant’s terrifying appearance and kicked off the ground.

“Let’s flee for now.”

"Where are you going?!"

Soon after, Demetrios began to move in an attempt to catch up. However, a barrier of fire rose again, stopping the giant in his tracks.

Flicker.

“Demetrios!”

Demetrios was about to jump through the barrier of fire, but a voice quickly made him halt.

“Tsk.”

He just stood there watching Lee Jun-Kyeong, who was getting farther away.

***

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang stood on top of a tall mountain that the gate had been named after. While Jeong In-Chang’s complexion was still blue, he looked remarkably better than before.

“What the hell just happened?” he asked.

The training he had done with Lee Jun-Kyeong had definitely been effective. The sponsorship he had gained through the training had aided in blocking the giant’s attack, and the defensive stance he had perfected through the training helped him in deflecting the giant’s attack.

Still, that was about all it could do. Even though he had deflected and blocked the blow, there was still an incredible destructive power that had shaken his internal organs and made his body tremble. He had only been able to recover after drinking two bottles of potions over a long period of time.

Lee Jun-Kyeong flatly stated, “There was an ambush.”

“As expected… Demetrios… that monster attacked the Hunters as soon as they entered,” Jeong In-Chang said while nodding as if he understood.

There was no way that situation would have occurred if it wasn’t for the ambush. It was timed for when the Hunters were most vulnerable when they started the gate raid. Clearly, he had waited for that moment to attack the others.

“That’s not it.”

However, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s response was surprising.

“The other Hunters were the ones who attacked him first.”

“What?”

“They wanted to take advantage of the moment he would be the most vulnerable, so the other Hunters banded together and attacked him as he entered,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said while slightly relaxing as if he thought that the surroundings were safe.

“He was angered by that and started a rampage.”

“Ah…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong continued, “I told you to flee because I expected that to happen.”

Prior to entering, the other Hunters had some unusual movements going on. Even though they were Hunters that had come from different places, and all of them were Heroes, they had been sending unknown signals to each other as if they were sharing something.

The only thing Lee Jun-Kyeong had been sure of was that something was about to go down.

“The Hunters who had been blatantly sharing signals were the first to enter.”

Jeong In-Chang’s eyes widened. “That’s why… you said to flee.”

“Correct.”

The attitude of the Hunters had clearly implied that they were preparing for an ambush, and since Lee Jun-Kyeong understood Heracles’ personality to a certain extent, he told Jeong In-Chang to flee.

“It looks like half of them have been dealt with.”

“H…half?” Jeong In-Chang asked.

“Yes.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong brushed off his pants and stood up. Out of all of the Hunters who had come to participate in the Battle of Champions, half of them had died at the entrance to the gate. Not at the hands of monsters, but at the hand of a Hunter.

"Let's move on."

"Ah, yes."

Jeong In-Chang had quickly intuited the situation and stood up as well; it had been a series of unbelievable events.

“What are we going to do now?” he asked.

After seeing that immense power and the unbelievable show of strength, he didn’t know how to respond. Jeong In-Chang stood there, feeling ashamed while thinking that it was impossible, but then Lee Jun-Kyeong took out Muspel’s Spear and an unnamed round shield.

He said as he took stance, “For now, we have to stay alive.”

Out of nowhere, they heard something.“Kerere.”

“Keeeeeeee.”

Bloodlust surrounded them, and Lee Jun-Kyeong opened his mouth again.

“He’s not the only enemy here.”

It was then that Jeong In-Chang realized that they were in an A-Grade Gate.

1. The word here is a word that literally means suffering so horrible that it is beyond human capabilities to describe it. It is called Abigyuhwan, which comes from Buddhism. It is a combination of the Father Hell (abi) and the Shrieking Hell (gyuhwan), which is a hell that gives suffering beyond imagination as a punishment.