I stretched. Nothing happened all night. Well, it’s not a good choice to cause trouble at the beginning of a conquest. To wipe out this conquest team, it would be enough to just take out all the porters, but if you did that, it would become impossible to conquer the Gate.
Since the Gate doesn’t produce an ‘exit’ until it’s conquered, it means you’d be trapped yourself the moment the conquest fails.
So the best time to attack is right before or after the conquest. But if attacks had happened at those times in the past, there wouldn’t have been conquest failures. The attackers, intentionally or not, caused trouble at a timing when the conquest couldn’t succeed.
And they either died trapped here themselves, or…
‘Did they endure until the second conquest team finished the conquest?’
Is that even possible?
I might not know about other terrains, but this place was a freezing glacial land that froze and killed everything alive. There were practically no self-sustaining plants or animals, and the wandering monsters (I found out by asking Han Seo-hyeon yesterday) were only insubstantial spirit types.
If nothing else, wouldn’t food be a problem?
As far as I know, it was several months after the second conquest team was organized and started heading here.
I know it took that much time from questioning responsibility, analyzing the cause of the conquest failure, to taking away the Gate ownership from Sirius Guild.
—They might have raided the porters’ food, no?
‘That’s a possibility, but…’
There’s still no evidence or anything. It’s better to stop thinking here since baseless speculation is just right to become a wild guess.
When I went outside, the captain’s voice rang out loudly.
“Everyone dismantle the accommodations and gather again!”
There was no time to rest. I went back into the accommodation and woke up Han Seo-hyeon who had fallen fast asleep.
I put the mask on him again. Seeing the rough face gave me goosebumps for no reason.
I know the Han Seo-hyeon I know is inside there, but it’s a face I really don’t want to get close to.
* * *
Today was also moving from the very end.
But what’s different is that we finally came down from the snow mountain, so we don’t have to stand precariously in a single line anymore.
Just by moving a little more bunched up, the distance with the vanguard narrowed significantly. Back then, the distance with the front was enormous because we kept more distance from each other to avoid getting caught up if someone fell.
Thanks to that, we could see the battles happening in front quite clearly.
An ice spirit appeared in front of the vanguard. The ice spirit was quite huge. Will-o’-the-wisp. The ice spirit resembling a will-o’-the-wisp was shattered to pieces by someone’s punch.
It was the work of Kim Dae-gwon, the 7-Circle hunter who was dispatched here together.
There were large and small attacks after that too, but Kim Dae-gwon handled them all. I don’t know if they’re trying to conserve Yoo Seon-je’s strength or what, but Yoo Seon-je never stepped up. It was regrettable since I wanted to check Yoo Seon-je’s skills if possible.
After dealing with the messy swarms of spirits rushing in like that, we reached our destination.
Serena’s Ice Palace.
True to its name, a massive ice palace appeared before us. The palace was inside huge walls, and there was a fairly large village inside. Although entry didn’t seem difficult since the castle gate was wide open, we stopped in front of the walls.
And we built a base in front of it.
It seemed they intended to set up a base here during the subjugation. Now it was porter time again.
After diligently building the base and distributing food, we had a short rest and meal time.
“It’s like a vampire village.”
I pricked up my ears at someone’s quiet words. A man in his early 30s with a full beard was talking to the person sitting next to him while gulping down stew.
Curious, I approached the man and asked:
“Did you perhaps go on the vampire village conquest before?”
“Ah, that’s right. Haha.”
He was certainly a veteran porter. To think he went to that Gate! Seeing the surprise on my face, the man said with a smile:
“The composition is quite similar. Well, there’s no sense of any human presence here though.”
“That’s right.”
Certainly, no sign of life could be felt around here. It looked like a city completely covered in ice and dead.
Wouldn’t it look like this if an ice age came and it was left abandoned for about ten years?
“So it feels strange. Back then, there was definitely a feeling of ‘We just need to conquer that place!’. But here…”
It makes you wonder if it’s right to go in there. I narrowed my eyes. It was certainly strange. To think no monsters came out even though we approached so close to the walls.
The man continued:
“The exploration team is heading straight for the castle.”
“Then we just wait here in the meantime?”
“That’s probably it. It was similar last time too. They leave minimal personnel here to protect the porters, and the rest go to conquer that castle.”
This place becomes a temporary base. Certainly, it’s not a good choice to bring porters in when conquering a ‘castle’.
Then it was time to say goodbye to the porters around here.
Our goal is to stop the attack that will happen up ahead.
We should leave traces made of mana so that our disappearance won’t be suspected. It’s a neighborhood where it wouldn’t be strange for ghosts or something to appear at a glance.
The porters’ stress will increase, but it can’t be helped.
That evening, I asked Han Seo-hyeon who came into the accommodation:
“Did you find out anything?”
At my question, Han Seo-hyeon nodded with a heavy face.
“They seem to be in the support team.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Han Seo-hyeon, who said that, carefully added:
“At least three of them.”
“How did you know?”
“I saw their faces changing. They couldn’t change their faces while eating. No wonder they only pretended to eat all day without actually eating.”
I received the changed faces through Han Seo-hyeon.
One woman in her early 20s with black and white hair braided into two plaits.
A man in his early 30s with a dry impression.
And one suspicious man whose face was hidden in shadows.
A total of three had snuck into the support team. I’m not sure about the two men, but I definitely recognize the woman.
“Gemini.”
“Gemini?”
“Yes, a troublesome woman has come. The Top, huh.”
Now we know the identity of the attackers. Villains from the Top. I explained Gemini’s abilities to Han Seo-hyeon.
“She has two personalities, so two talents. The aggressive personality can handle flames. Not just fire, but there are also rumors that she attacked with magma after melting the surroundings. And the other talent is absolute defense. She’s a type with perfect offense and defense, so she’s extremely tricky.”
“Huh, two personalities?”
Quite a lot was known about Gemini. She had only recently risen to the Top, and her first crime was so horrific.
“Gemini’s first crime was burning all her family members to death. Including her twin sister.”
“What?”
“I don’t know why her sister who died then didn’t use her absolute defense ability. Anyway, that’s all I know. I don’t know if she carries all the family members she burned or just her sister, but what’s certain is that she uses both abilities.”
And I have no idea about the other two people. I have some sense about one of them though.
“If he uses illusions, there’s a high chance it’s Trickster.”
But the skinny man in his early 30s. I had no clue about him at all. He might even be an outside mercenary rather than from the Top.
I don’t know how they got into the support team (whether there really is a traitor at least at team leader level), but with the enemy in the support team, we had to hurry too.
“We’re leaving here today.”
I packed my luggage. I decided to leave what I brought as a porter here, regrettably. It can’t be helped to show that we didn’t ‘escape’ but disappeared due to something inside this Gate.
After carefully leaving the accommodation, I carefully sprinkled ice and dark attribute mana.
Our disappearance will be noticed tomorrow, and if they investigate the scene, they should be able to find this mana.
I had to move with Han Seo-hyeon. I wanted to leave him outside if possible, but it was best to go together since monsters could appear anytime, anywhere in this situation.
After leaving traces like that, we immediately snuck past the village into the ice palace.
As people expected, there were no monsters in the village.
I looked around wondering if the ice palace might be different, but the ice palace was quiet too.
“We can use abilities from here on.”
This ice palace contained mana.
I’ve been careful about using mana so far, but here it should be fine to use since it could be thought of as monster or castle mana.
It might be a bit difficult after the conquest team enters though.
At my words, Han Seo-hyeon infused mana into his staff.
Black sand silently climbed up the ice stairs. Those black sands are said to share senses with Han Seo-hyeon. If spread out widely, the mana felt from the sand is at a minimal level, so it’s also good for surveillance purposes.
We planned to hide in a suitable place and wait for the enemies.
As if he had found a good space, Han Seo-hyeon gestured towards me.
“Come over here.”
When Han Seo-hyeon felt along the bricks, a hidden space was revealed. It was a secret space that could never have been discovered if not for using sand to grasp the space.
“Let’s stay here for a while.”
Although it’s a space that won’t be revealed outside, I set up the item I brought just in case. It was a temporary shelter with stealth and concealment mana circuits engraved.
Since it also has a function to harmonize with the surrounding mana, we should be quite free from surrounding eyes, if not completely.
Now let’s wait.
To see what happens inside here.
* * *
“Brother-in-law!”
Oh Jun-sik, the captain of the porters, shouted in surprise. When his brother-in-law didn’t come out in the morning, he went to look for him, but no one was there.
“This can’t be. A disappearance?”
Although porters having accidents has always happened, it was rare for them to disappear overnight like this. Oh Jun-sik immediately reported to his superiors that there were missing persons.
“You say porters disappeared?”
As the captain in charge of the porters, Oh Jun-sik could have a direct audience with Lee Hye-won. Oh Jun-sik opened his mouth while suppressing his trembling heart.
“Yes, two people.”
“It’s not desertion, right?”
“All their luggage was there, and there were f-faint traces of mana too…”
Oh Jun-sik couldn’t sense it, but it must be certain since it was the words of the explorer who came to investigate the scene.
Lee Hye-won’s eyes sank at Oh Jun-sik’s words.
“For now, let’s heighten the alert around the area, and tonight we’ll put the accommodations a bit closer together.”
“What about searching for the missing persons…”
“There will be no search for porters. We have to enter the palace today. We don’t have the luxury to spare any more personnel.”
This was the reality of porters. No one considers porters important. It was natural, if natural. Because no one thinks of them as combat strength.
Oh Jun-sik bit his lip.
He too had gone through this kind of thing several times, but to think even his brother-in-law would experience this. What on earth should he say when he sees his wife?
Oh Jun-sik trudged back with powerless steps.
“Did something happen?”
Lee Hye-won shook her head at the voice heard from behind.
“They say two porters went missing. It seems there were monsters we failed to erase remaining in the area.”
“Really? That’s strange. I didn’t sense anything yesterday.”
“I’m planning to take measures so there won’t be additional damage, so don’t worry.”
Kim Dae-gwon nodded.
“By the way, now it’s the real conquest.”
Kim Dae-gwon grinned, showing his teeth as if excited.
“We don’t know what’s in that ice palace.”
“Well, there must be a monster called Serena.”
Kim Dae-gwon, who said that, shrugged his shoulders and said:
“Whatever it is, we just need to beat it to death.”