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Task Force Secret Weapon (3)

The Gaia system determined the name of all gates, which were seen by the first person witnessing it, but there was no way to know its origin. Usually, it had to do with the enemies or the environment inside of the gate. However, no one knew why the A+ gate in Pyeongchang was called Belatos. The common guess was that it was the name of the boss.

“But, it’s not.” They were inside an underground plaza located under the highest rocky mountain, the Belatos gate, having taken the descending stone staircase. Nine white tombstones were planted around the plaza, and as soon as she saw it, Shin Eunah grasped the meaning of the name.

“I guess Belatos was the name of this world.”

“Pardon?”

“Oh, right. Look here.” Shin Eunah pulled him over to the tombstone in the innermost corner of the square. It was engraved with a language he couldn’t understand. Or rather, he shouldn’t be able to, but somehow he could read it.

-This is a function provided by the Hero Universe.

The administrator finally spoke after a long period of silence. Kang Shin-hyuk had figured as much. He had encountered other natives to other worlds, after all, but had been able to communicate with them naturally.

“Can you read it?” It is one of the first benefits of the Hero Universe. You learn the words that serve as the origin of all languages in the world.”

“What is that?! Then can I speak English?”

“Try it.” He did, and it came out naturally. When he thought of speaking Chinese, Japanese, French, or any other that came to mind, he was able to do so with ease.

“Ridiculous…”

“It’s one of the most basic benefits of the Hero Universe, but also the most important.

“Then, we were able to communicate on the bulletin board…”

“Because of this…” It was absurd that he never realized it until now. He thought it was all still in Korean. However, now that he knew, it was easy enough to accept it.

“The Hero Universe… it presumes that we are working in connection with other dimensions.”

“Huh… so, what were you talking about?”

“This tells of Belatos, and his destruction.”

“Why did he perish… no, wait, I don’t need to ask.” He could also just read the tombstone. The tombstone referred to Jormungand as well.

“It has a record of the battle between Jormungand and Belatos. It’ll take some time to fully interpret, but this is immensely useful.” They both knew that they couldn’t share this information with the outside world, as the administrator wouldn’t allow it, but maybe it had something they could use.

-They aren’t qualified to know.

“I was expecting as much.” Kang Shin-hyuk walked slowly through the cavern to read the histories engraved on all nine tombstones as Shin Eunah walked beside him. It almost felt like he was in a museum of some sort, but really it was the boss room of an A+ gate.

“It almost seems like I’m playing with grandpa.”

“…”

-You’re crazy.

Kang Shin-hyuk felt the heat coming from the administrator’s words. He had no clue how he might react if he knew that Shin-hyuk had been thinking a similar thing.

“Grandpa, there’s no need to worry about it too deeply.”

“Huh?”

“Their history is their history, not ours. We just need to refer to it so that we can fight Jormungand.”

“…Aha, that’s what you meant.” Kang Shin-hyuk nodded. She had been worried that he would be afraid of this happening to Earth. As she said, this was only another world’s history. Besides, he had much more vivid memories of destruction rattling around his head than in this text. Anvil’s memories weren’t complete yet, but he could at least recall the desperation he had suffered. Shin-hyuk didn’t ignore it, however, but accepted it.

“No need to worry, if I was going to be scared by this, I would’ve been lost in that first irregular gate.”

“Okay…” He faced her gaze without avoiding it, and this time she turned away from him with reddening cheeks.

“Hm?”

“Let’s get the boss now.”

“Ah, right.” Shin Eunah infused the first tombstone with her mana, and it slowly slid into the ground.

“Uh?”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be okay.” A white light began to erupt from the area where the first tombstone had vanished. Within it, a group of monsters resembling huge boars appeared. They were an elite version of the A+ rank monster he had hunted earlier in the dungeon.

-Grrr…

-Kiii!

“Can you take care of it?”

“Yeah.” The moment he saw them, Kang Shin-hyuk was already swinging his arms forward to throw threads at them. They instinctively moved to avoid it, but it was enough to slow them down. That was thanks to the barriers in the cavern that prevented all of them from leaving.

-Kiiii!

He was able to tie the monsters together in a smooth motion, leaping forward as he pulled the threads together to cut into them.

-Buoooooh!

One of the wild boars evaded his threads to rush him, spinning its fangs like a drill, but Kang Shin-hyuk kicked off the ground to avoid it.

-Kyaaaah!

A blade rushed out from his feet to stick into the wild boar’s head. It was one of the throwing daggers he made out of the wasp needles and mantis blades through collaborating with Lee Na-hee.

[Black Tiger Needle]

[A-rank]

[Special Abilities-Poison, Bog, Incarnation]

*Poison – The weapon bears strong toxins.

* Bog – The weapon has increased penetration, and the wounds it inflicts will worsen over time.

* Incarnation – The wielder of the weapon can handle it naturally like it is a part of their own body. It becomes more difficult for others to notice.

That final ability meant that it could be shot from anywhere on his body; he could even throw it from his armpit. He had them hidden everywhere under his uniform. He had forged a set of them with the same powers, although he was currently unable to tie armaments together through his own power. That was purely thanks to Lee Na-hee.

He quickly cleaned up the remaining monsters by stretching out a strand of the lightning web. It penetrated the forehead of a nearby wild boar that had been hit by the dagger, wrapping around its brain to crush it. The wild boar sank neatly.

-You have suppressed several beings that are harmful to the order of things. Bonus based on membership level! You received 180,000HP! As a VIP bonus, you receive an additional amount of HP equal to 50% of the reward, for a total of 270,000HP!

“Perfect.”

“Yes, it appears to be well made.” The black tiger needles were made to be used in conjunction with the spider webs from the beginning. Instead of a hilt, the blades had small hooks that could be caught with the threads.

-It was a great battle. 1,500 HP bonus!

“Thank you.” The administrator was giving out bonuses every time he fought, but he never forgot to say thank you. Sometimes, he would even add a bonus saying what a nice member he was to not forget his politeness. But thanks to that, he was slowly losing his sense of the value of HP.

“Grandpa might receive a name soon.” Shin Eunah said so as she watched Kang Shin-hyuk after the battle. He titled his head at her.

“A name? Like for monsters?”

“No, not like that.” In games, monsters with names were usually much stronger.

“Some of the rankers have special titles. Although there are cases where they are referred to only by name, like Michael Sampson.”

“That’s great.” What was great was that it was such a mediocre name that he almost forgot it right away. He tried to recall who that was.

“Is he a high ranker?”

“He’s ranked 22nd. His trait is hardening, and he’s famous for smashing all of his enemies. But everyone just calls him Michael Sampson.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s too ordinary.” Hardening wasn’t a rare trait, true. Shinyoung had several students who had similar traits, although the ranks varied.

“Just give me a nickname that makes sense.”

“Hm… Grandpa is way too different from Michael Sampson. Your combat method is much more attractive and elegant. It’s important to give off a strong impression too… although Grandpa is already excellent at that.”

Only

“…Like back in the contest hall?”

“Huh. That was great. If you keep fighting that way, it will be easy for you to build up people’s awareness of you. Then, your ability to sway superhuman society will increase, and rankers will be more likely to accept you. That’s why you need a nickname with impact.”

“Like Thunder Empress?”

“Ugh.” Shin Eunah’s face quickly turned red. She puffed her cheeks out and activated two more tombstones with her mana, causing dozens of monsters to appear.

-Woah…!

“Ah.”

“Shall we do a fourth too?”

“No, wait! Wait a minute!” Kang Shin-hyuk decided to hold off on jokes until they defeated the boss.